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Rain brings mercury down in Delhi-NCR, more to follow
Rain and thunderstorms on Sunday morning brought relief to residents of Delhi and its satellite towns in the national capital region (NCR) from heat and humidity,
Rain and thunderstorms on Sunday morning brought relief to residents of Delhi and its satellite towns in the national capital region (NCR) from heat and humidity, and weather scientists predicted more wet weather over the coming days.
Several weather stations in Delhi experienced moderate category rains with Safdarjung receiving 34.8 mm, Lodhi Road 38.2 mm and Delhi Ridge 46.6 mm, according to the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre (RWFC) of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Delhi-NCR will receive more rains over the next three to four days as a monsoon trough is passing very close to the national capital, IMD scientists said.
“There is a lot of moisture because of easterly winds and there was intense heating for the last three to four days with maximum temperatures of over 40 degrees C. We are expecting some thunderstorm activity and light rain for a few days,” said Kuldeep Shrivastava, head of RWFC.
Delhi’s maximum temperature on Sunday was 34.4 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal.
Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi received 7% deficient rains in the week from June 24 to July 1. The monsoon arrived in Delhi on June 24, three days in advance.
There is also a low-pressure area over Kutch and its neighbourhood; widespread rainfall activity is likely over Gujarat during the next three days. Very heavy to extremely heavy rain is also likely over Saurashtra and Kutch during the next two days.
Under the influence of a low-pressure area over northwest Bay of Bengal off the Odisha-Gangetic West Bengal coasts and associated cyclonic circulations, fairly widespread to widespread and very heavy rain is likely over Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar during next two-three days, IMD said in its Sunday bulletin.
Widespread and heavy rains are also expected in many parts of central and northwest India during the next four to five days.
IMD’s bulletin has cautioned that moderate to intense thunderstorm and lightning strikes are very likely over Saurashtra and Kutch, south Gujarat region, east Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand during the next 12 hours. HT reported on Sunday that since May 15, nearly 315 people in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh lost their lives to electrocution from lightning strikes.
IMD scientists said intense rains in June led to more farmers being out in the field planting paddy.
“This year the number of lightning incidents and lightning deaths is more frequent over Bihar and eastern UP because the region is seeing intense monsoon rain quite early in the monsoon in June. In previous years this region usually didn’t receive such rains in June. Because of good rainfall this year in June, farmers are out in the field farming. Paddy field water also attracts electricity and farmers on the field act as conductors of electricity from the thunderstorm,” said Sunitha Devi, a member of the Ministry of Earth Sciences’ thunderstorm working group, had said on Saturday.
The country has received 11% excess rains from June 1 during monsoon with 10% excess over east and northeast India; 19% excess over central India; 11% excess over peninsular India; in northwest India, the monsoon has been 7% deficient .
A good monsoon, which accounts for 70% of India’s annual rainfall, is critical to the fortunes of the agricultural sector, on which at least 700 million people in India are dependent for a livelihood. The monsoon is crucial for the yield of rice, wheat, sugarcane, and oilseeds in a country where farming accounts for about 15% of the economy but employs over half of its people.
