Pune district to get moderate to heavy rain till August 6: IMD

PUNE: The India Meteorological Department on Sunday forecast moderate to isolated heavy rainfall in the district till August 6.
This should bring some relief to Puneites, who just experienced the driest July in five years, with scanty rainfall and high levels of humidity throughout the month.
“A low-pressure area is likely to form over North Bay of Bengal around August 4. Simultaneously, westerlies from the Arabian Sea will get stronger, especially from August 3 to 6. This will create a huge convergence over the west coast. All these weather systems together will reactivate the monsoon over the state. So, all regions of Maharashtra can expect good rainfall till August 8m” Anupam Kashyapi, head of weather forecast division at IMD, Pune, said.
He added that heavy rainfall was expected over Konkan-Goa and Madhya Maharashtra regions due to the topography of the Sahyadris.
“Ghat sections in certain areas of these regions may experience isolated instances of very heavy to extreme heavy rainfall especially from August 3-6,” Kashyapi added. Heavy rainfall indicates 11.5 -20.4cm per day, while more than 20.4cm per day constitutes extremely heavy rain, The day temperature between August 3 to August 8 will hover between 28-30°C.
The skies were overcast over Pune from Sunday morning, but there was no rainfall across the district till 5.30pm, an IMD official said.
The lack of rainfall, particularly in the last two weeks of July, has hampered paddy plantation across the district.
“At many places, particularly in Maval and Mulshi, the cultivation work has stopped completely due to a lack of rainfall. The August rainfall will bring relief to paddy farmers in these tehsils. Consistently overcast weather conditions are not conducive to crop growth,” a senior official from the district agriculture department said.