August brought a slow start of the Monsoon rains over the state of Gujarat. In fact, Monsoon rains have remained far and few over the state so far in the month with an elongated dry spell of over ten days. This has also raised the rainfall deficiency of the state.
However, the last 24 hours, brought some light to moderate with isolated heavy spells over the state which improved the rainfall status of the state. As on August 16, Gujarat region is rain deficient by 22% and Saurashtra is rain deficient by 32%.
The graph below depicts the rainfall performance of the state:
In the last 24 hours from 08:30 am on Thursday, Vallabh Vijayanagar recorded 85 mm of rains, Surat 51 mm, Ahmedabad 31 mm, Bhavnagar 23 mm, Valsad 16 mm, Idar 10 mm, Surendranagar 6 mm, and Veraval witnessed 3 mm of rains.
Moreover, in the last three hours, spanning from 08:30 in the morning until 11:30 am, Ahmedabad has already recorded 81 mm of rains.
As per Skymet Weather, the reason for these rains can be attributed to the westward movement of the Depression which was over Odisha and adjoining Chhattisgarh. At present, this system can be marked over Southwest Madhya Pradesh, adjoining Gujarat and North Madhya Maharashtra, weakened into a well marked low.
This system is likely to move further west-northwestwards and may travel in proximity to the Arabian Sea. This would also propel enough moisture content over the region, causing heavy to extremely heavy rains over the entire state, mainly over North Gujarat and Saurashtra region.
Skymet Weather also advises caution against localized flooding which is likely due to these torrential showers. Regions like Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar, Deesa, Veraval, Idar, Rajkot and Bhuj would most likely be the affected areas.
These rains would also influence weather of South Rajasthan, West Madhya Pradesh, North Madhya Maharashtra and North Konkan. The rains are expected to continue over the state for the next 48 hours and so is the caution advised.
Image Credit: Instagram (Suratnow.me)
Any information taken from here should be credited to skymetweather.com