E-Paper
Rains begin to reach deficient parts of NW India, to intensify over the weekend: RWFC
At present, Delhi has a -52% deficiency and the corresponding figure for north-west India is -16%.
Some parts of north-west India, including Haryana and Delhi-national capital region (NCR), were lashed by rains, as the monsoon trough is shifting northwards amid worries over rain deficiency in the region.
In Delhi, only some neighbourhoods in south Delhi received light rains on Friday morning.
The Regional Weather Forecasting Centre (RWFC) said that rains would intensify over the weekend.
At present, Delhi has a -52% deficiency and the corresponding figure for north-west India is -16%.
“The monsoon trough (line of low pressure) has started moving northwards and is likely to bring widespread rains to the north-western region until Monday,” said Kuldeep Shrivastava, head, RWFC.
The highest deficiency is in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh at -59% and -66%, respectively; -34% in Himachal Pradesh; and -14% in Uttarakhand.
Under the influence of strengthening of lower-level easterlies over north-west India and the monsoon trough, widespread rain with some heavy falls is likely over the plains of northwest India between Friday and Monday, with maximum intensity and distribution of rainfall on Saturday and Monday, said India Meteorological Department (IMD) in its Friday morning bulletin.
In view of likely shifting of the eastern end of monsoon trough towards foothills of the Himalayas from Sunday, widespread and very heavy rain is likely over the north-east and adjoining eastern India from that day onwards.
Extremely heavy rain, measuring over 20 centimetres (cm), is likely to occur over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam and Meghalaya on Monday.
Due to a strong convergence of south-westerly winds parts of Mumbai received over 20 cm of rain between Thursday and Friday. Intense rains are likely over Mumbai on Friday as well.
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.
