Winter rains in India this time were not as par with the previous seasons. In fact, the months of January and February saw very little rains with the region witnessing deficient rainfall throughout. Moreover, most areas saw large rainfall deficiencies, while other parts saw no rains at all.
During the months of January and February, the countrywide rainfall stood at 15.4 mm against the average of 41.4 mm. This resulted in a deficiency of a whopping 63 percent.
As far as the month of January is concerned, the countrywide deficiency then stood at 85 percent with the country witnessing a mere 2.9 mm of rainfall against 19.2 mm.
On the other hand, the month of February alone was a shade better with the region recording rains at 12.5 mm against the deficiency of 22.2 mm.
The months of January as well as February are the two main winter rain months. However, this time, due to the number and strength of the Western Disturbances being not on the higher side, and only one or two incidents of rains on the plains, rains were way less as compared to the previous years.
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The combined effect of the Western Disturbances and its induced cyclonic circulations was also just about a couple which further resulted in lesser number of rains. The hilly areas were more affected as compared to the plains of North India.
As far as other parts of the country are concerned, not much weather activity was observed over the rest of the country as well which added to the high deficient rain figures.
As far as its comparison with the other years are concerned, January rains have been the second lowest since the year 1902. The last time the country saw such less rains was in 2017 at a mere 2.8 mm.
Talking about February, the year 2018 was not too bad and found the ninth spot in the least amount of rainfall recorded, with the first spot being taken by the year 1955.
Now, as far as the combined rainfall of January and February are concerned, the figures are way too low as compared to the previous years. In fact, after the year 1902, the least amount of rains that the country received was this year at 15.4 mm. in 1902, the rains recorded were at a mere 11.6 mm. Meanwhile, the second place has been taken by the year 1918 when 15.8 mm rains were observed.
Thus, the January and February rains have been the lowest in the last 116 years.
One of the main reasons for very little rains could be attributed to the La Nina conditions. Since about the end of last year, La Niña conditions have been prevailing, affecting the weather patterns across the globe accordingly.
Invariably, poor rains are linked with the existing La Nina conditions, which is showing up in the figures mentioned above. Due to the lack of these winter rains, there has also been a definite increase in temperature and many areas have been witnessing an increase of about 1 to 5 degrees. Moreover, summer crept in way too early this year, as compared to the previous ones.
Image Credit: IBtimes
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