Delhi: August ends dry; not much rain likely in first week of September

Delhi’s primary weather station — the Safdarjung Observatory — recorded a minimum temperature of 25.9 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature is expected to settle around 35 degrees Celsius.

Though Delhi will witness cloudy skies over the next five to six days, showers of rain are not expected.

According to weather experts, the lack of rainfall this month is due to the development of three low-pressure areas over the northwest Bay of Bengal which pulled the monsoon trough over central India and did not let it pass to the north for a long interval.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) stated that the monsoon activity over northwest India will remain subdued for the coming five days.

According to the IMD data, the Safdarjung Observatory has recorded a paltry 41.6 mm of rainfall against a normal of 233.1 mm so far in August.

Generally, Delhi gauges 247 mm of precipitation in August, which is the wettest month of the year.

According to data available on the IMD website, the capital recorded 214.5 mm of rainfall in August last year and 237 mm in 2020. The reading for 2019 stood at 119.6 mm.

Three low-pressure areas (LPAs) developed over the northwest Bay of Bengal in August which travelled across Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and south Pakistan, giving good rains there.

“The LPAs kept the monsoon trough south of its normal position for a long time. Delhi and other parts of northwest India received rain only when the trough passed over the region while moving to the foothills of the Himalayas”, stated Mahesh Palawat, vice president (climate change and meteorology), Skymet Weather.

Usually, the trough is seen running through Sri Ganganagar, Delhi, Allahabad, Jharsuguda, Kolkata and North Bay of Bengal.

The weather bureau had earlier predicted normal to above normal rainfall in the month of August over northwest India.

The Safdarjung Observatory has, in total, recorded 350.8 mm of rainfall against a normal of 506.7 mm since 1 June when the monsoon season usually starts clocking a deficit of 31%.

The deficit is likely to persist with subdued rains predicted for the next month.

A bountiful monsoon had yielded 1,169.4 mm of rainfall in 2021, which was the third highest since 1901.

(With inputs from PTI)

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