While the west coast is soaking wet in heavy to very heavy Monsoon rain, eastern peninsular India is witnessing a completely opposite weather situation, with little rain and extremely hot days. Telangana receives over 60% of its rainfall from the Southwest Monsoon but it looks like this year the El Nino has cast a spell on the region.
So far in the month of June, rain deficit in coastal Andhra Pradesh is a whopping 68%, whereas in Telangana it is 52%. Rayalaseema is the only region which has had enough rain and is surplus by 19%, with an average of 53.3 mm of rain against 44 mm in the first fifteen days of June.
According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, light to moderate rain is likely to occur in north coastal Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday and Thursday. Telangana and Rayalseema may also observe light isolated rain, which will fail to cover up the deficit that Andhra Pradesh is reeling under.
The last time Andhra Pradesh had received good amounts of rain was around 3rd June when both Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad observed 47 mm and 28 mm of rain respectively. There has been little or no rain since then and the weather has been dry. However, 77 mm of rain in Visakhapatnam on 9th June can be categorized as sudden spot rain which was isolated and purely localized (developed due to sudden accumulation of moisture in a particular location).
In the last 24 hours, rain occurred in some cities of Andhra Pradesh due to a trough ( a weather system) extending from Jharkhand right up to north coastal Andhra Pradesh. In Ramagundum 52 mm of heavy rain took everyone by surprise. Rain was light in other cities such as Visakhapatnam 4 mm, Kakinada 1 mm and Kalingapatnam 0.1 mm. Weather in Hyderabad remained dry despite a persistent cloud cover.
In the absence of rain, mercury is seen surging beyond 40⁰C in many cities of Andhra Pradesh. Rentachintala was again the hottest city in the state on Tuesday, with a maximum 43.2⁰C. Machilipatnam was 42.6⁰C, Vijaywada 41.6⁰C, Kakinada 41.1⁰C, Ongole 40.8⁰C and Visakhapatnam recorded a high of 40⁰C.
“Lack of a strong system over the Bay of Bengal this year is the reason behind poor Monsoon rain in Andhra Pradesh as the system in the Bay feeds moisture to Andhra Pradesh, necessary for rain in the state. Winds over the region are currently dry and hot westerly-northwesterly winds, coming straight from the land. Till these winds do not change to southeasterly from the Bay, chances of good Monsoon rain is dismal. As of now it is a small trough bringing rain to Andhra Pradesh”, explains meteorologist Samar Chaudhury.
