Monsoon was supposed to enter north coastal Andhra by the second week of this month. And Vizagites were hoping for some good spell of rain and respite from the summer heat.
But it turned out to be the other way round. Denizens are reeling under a heat spell. The temperature in the last three days is hovering around 40 to 41 degree Celsius. However, sharp showers in some areas of the city late in the afternoon on Monday brought some respite from scorching heat.
During the entire summer (April to May) people have not experienced such temperatures and now in mid of June and the denizens are experiencing heat wave like conditions. And more importantly the schools have reopened. Meanwhile, district Collector Pravin Kumar said it has been decided to close schools for three days in the district. It will be further extended if situation warrants, he said
Explaining the sudden change in weather condition, SSVS Ramakrishna, senior Professor from the Department of Metrology and Oceanography, Andhra University, said, this was a routine phenomenon.
“Every year, after the onset the monsoon moves northwards towards the Himalayas and it is called the ‘monsoon break’. And it again revives in the southern latitude. But this year, the aspect to be observed is that the ‘break’ was early,” he said.
According to him, the normal ‘break’ is during the first week of July. But this year, it took place during the mid second and third week of June.
Dry spell
Explaining it further, Professor Emeritus of Department of Metrology and Oceanography, Andhra University, OSRU Bhanu Kumar said, “The origin of south west monsoon is in the southern hemisphere and the onset is on the Arabian sea side. It then moves interior towards AP, Telangana and other states. The onset was on time and the first spell was also good. And now we are experiencing a break or dry spell.”
According to him monsoon is spread over a period of 45 days to 50 days, but in the middle it takes break after every 10 to 12 days.
“And during this dry spell, temperatures soar up. In one way it is good sign, as due to the rise in temperature, the moisture collection goes up which leads to formation of thick clouds with heavy content of water vapour. The first spell over Kerala and Karnataka was good, we hope it will now be extended over AP and TS,” said Prof. Bhanu Kumar.