Gurugram: Weak monsoon pushes rain deficit to 42% in two weeks

GURGAON: A fortnight after the onset of monsoon, the city has a rain deficit of 42% — second only to Fatehabad (-44%) in the state — as heavy showers have eluded most parts of the district this month.
Data by the Met department shows that between July 1 and 14, Gurgaon received a cumulative rainfall of 43.7mm, against the normal of 74.8mm.
This shortfall is expected to increase further, with no projection of ample rainfall over the next 3-4 days, officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday. Light to moderate rain is likely till July 18, and only after that the distribution and intensity of showers will increase across Haryana, they said.
“Rain activity will be reduced in the next 3-4 days with scattered and isolated showers over the state. It will increase thereafter,” said Manmohan Singh, director, IMD-Chandigarh.
“Eventually, this could help recover the deficit,” he added. Fatehabad has the highest monsoon rain deficit, at 44%, followed by Gurgaon (42%) and Nuh (32%) in the state, IMD data shows.
The overall rainfall since June, when northwest India records pre-monsoon showers, was also lagging.
Gurgaon recorded 81.5mm of rainfall, 33% lower than the normal of 121.9mm from June onwards. In these parameters, Bhiwani (-43%) has the highest deficit followed by Faridabad (-34%) and Gurgaon.
Though the city has been witnessing patchy rains over the past few days, moist winds travelling from the Bay of Bengal have led to an increase in humidity levels over the region.
On Thursday, the maximum temperature rose to 39 degrees Celsius, three notches above the normal, and humidity was 79%.
Experts attributed lower than normal rains so far to a shift in the axis of the monsoon trough — a low-pressure area that drives monsoon in north India.
“Low-pressure area is developing over Bay of Bengal and that is travelling in a westerly direction across central India, right from Orissa, south Chhattisgarh, north Telangana, Vidarbha, south Madhya Pradesh and towards Gujarat. All of these areas are receiving heavy to very heavy rainfall over the last 8-10 days. Until the axis of monsoon trough remains south of its normal position, no significant weather activity will commence over Haryana, Punjab, and Delhi-NCR, including Gurgaon and Faridabad,” said Mahesh Palawat of Skymet Weather, a private weather forecasting agency.
He said the rain deficit will be caught up later this month.
“The monsoon trough axis will shift towards the northern plains in the coming days, and between July 19 and 22, some good spells of rain are expected to drench many parts in the region. The rain deficit is expected to be recovered by the third week of July,” Palawat added.