With skies opening up and temperatures rising, the month of March is supposed to be dry across North and Central India up to Madhya Pradesh. However, back to back spells of rain on March1 and March 2, March 7 and March 8 and lastly on March 15 and March 16 led to a drastic change in temperatures across the region.
The day temperatures have been settling 5 to 7 degrees below normal. For example the average maximum temperature in Amritsar so far in the month of March has been 21.84°C against the monthly average of 27.4°C, which is almost 5 degrees below normal. Similarly, the Safdarjung Observatory on an average has been recording 24.82°C as the day temperature in the last 17 days, against the monthly average of 29.2°C.
In Central India, Bhopal has been recording 26.81°C as the maximum, against the monthly average of 33.5°C, which is almost 6 degrees below normal. In Rajasthan, Jaipur has been witnessing maximum settle at 26.55°C against the monthly average of 31.3°C.
The rainfall in the region has also been exorbitant during the month. At some places it has been thirty times more than the average monthly rainfall. For instance Kota has so far recorded 137.4 mm of rain against the monthly average of 4 mm, while Jaipur has recorded 70 mm of rain against the average of 4.5 mm.
The national capital Delhi has also observed 86.7 mm of rain, which is far more than the monthly average rainfall of 13.5 mm. With 101 mm of rain, Amritsar has also surpassed its monthly average rainfall of 34.8 mm. In fact it has broken the 10-year record of 69.1 mm.
And with another spell of rain expected by the end of the month, the rainfall figures will swell further. The maximum temperatures are also likely to drop during this period, which could make March the coldest month in last ten years.
