Rainfall increases in South India but deficit still continues

According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, rain in South India has picked up considerably in the last few days as the rain figures show a significant jump from light showers of below 20 mm to heavy rain of over 100 mm from the 11^th till the 15^th of June. But this increase in rain still hasn't been able to make up for the deficit in South India.

From the 1^st to the 14^th of June, the National Cumulative Average monsoon rain was deficient by a whopping 47%, whereas the percentage of rain deficit varied across different states of peninsular India, ranging between 30% to 60% on an average. On a whole South India is facing a rain deficit of about 24%.

While heavy showers in Kerala began to make up for less monsoon rains in the state, reducing the rain deficit from 40% to 20%, in Konkan and Goa, heavy monsoon rain in the second week of June, failed to cover up the 65% rain deficit.

Karnataka is also facing rain deficit across all regions. While north Karnataka faces a rain deficit of 32%, coastal Karnataka is facing 44% below normal rain  . South Karnataka however, has had good rain and therefore the rainfall figures hover around the normal average for the month of June. Here the deficit is only about 4%. Bangalore so far in June has received approximately 230 mm of rain, with over 70 mm of rain each on 6^th and 7^th June.

Andhra Pradesh has been the worst hit with very little rain so far. There hasn't been any rain along coastal Andhra Pradesh for some time, leading to a rain deficit of about 59%. Weathermen tell us that chances of rain over the region looks grim for the next 72 hours. Meanwhile, the Northern Limit of Monsoon, extended up to Bapatla in Rayalseema on Sunday, raising hopes of monsoon showers in the parched area. Here the rain deficit till now is 39%.

Monsoon rain from 11th to 15th June
Date	Kozhikode	Mangalore	Honavar	Panaji
11-June	95 mm	57 mm	Nil	87 mm
12-June	97 mm	131 mm	87.4 mm	124 mm
13-June	90 mm	184 mm	128 mm	59 mm
14-June	74 mm	104 mm	135 mm	38 mm
15-June	15 mm	76 mm	61 mm	87 mm

This table shows the drastic increase in rainfall figures in some cities of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Goa from the 11th to 15th of June

 

 

Southwest Monsoon has been making a slow advancement after making a sluggish start this year. The onset of Monsoon phase should normally witness significant rain however, that did not happen. Tropical cyclone ‘Nanauk’ had been restricting the actual outburst of Monsoon in India. Now that the system has weakened it lost its hold over the monsoon current, allowing free flow of westerly winds favourable for the monsoon surge. In the next 10 days, rain will increase over the country but it may fail to cover up the deficit being faced by peninsular India.