Meteorological study breaks Karnataka into three sub-divisions, namely Coastal Karnataka, South Interior Karnataka and North Interior Karnataka.
Performance of Monsoon in Coastal Karnataka differs greatly from the other two parts as this sub-division lies along the Western Ghats. South Interior Karnataka, in turn shares a large border with Coastal Karnataka, which receives good showers during Monsoon in India on account of its topography and proximity to the coastline. South Interior Karnataka, has therefore, always performed better than the northern part.
Till the first half of August, North Interior Karnataka had a deficiency of 26% while South Interior Karnataka witnessed normal rain with an excess of 15%.
Break Monsoon conditions favourable for rain in Peninsular India
Mid of August is most prone to breaks in Monsoon, when rainfall decreases sharply over most parts of the country but increases along the Himalayas, parts of Northeast India and Southern Peninsula. In Meteorological terminology, 'break' in the Monsoon comes when three or more consecutive days of rains are way below normal in the 'core Monsoon zone'.
Consequently, Monsoon went for a break around 16th of August this season. During the weak and break Monsoon conditions also, Monsoon systems have a tendency to appear in the lower latitudes in the Bay of Bengal off Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh coast.
The system improved the performance of Monsoon drastically over both the sub-division, wiping off deficiency in the northern parts. As of now, North Interior Karnataka faces a deficiency of just 10% but South Interior Karnataka is the first region of South India to have an excess of 21% rain, this month.
Chitradurga in South Interior Karnataka has received 133.5 mm of rain so far this month, leaving the monthly average of 88.1 mm far behind. On the other hand Gulbarga in North Interior Karnataka has not yet met the monthly average of 148.4 mm; the city has received only 51.1 mm of rain so far. This comparison substantiates that performance of Southwest Monsoon in South Interior Karnataka has generally been better than North Interior Karnataka.
picture courtesy- Mangalorean.com
