The ten-day long Ganesh festival will commence on August 31. (Express photo by Pavan Khengre)This year’s Ganesh festival, which will commence on Wednesday, is likely to start with light to moderate intensity rainfall over Pune city and neighbouring areas, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said in its special forecast ahead of the ten-day-long celebration.
The IMD has also forecast higher-than-normal day temperatures in Pune city all through the next week, till September 2. The maximum temperature could hover around 31 – 31 degrees Celsius, which will be over 3 degrees Celsius above normal for this time of the year. Such higher temperatures could trigger thunderstorms, lightning and rainfall, mainly towards the afternoon or evening hours over the city and surrounding areas, officials added.
“During the next 48 hours, moisture levels will increase gradually. The rise in temperature can cause lightning, thunder activity accompanied by gusty winds on August 30 and 31. Generally, cloudy sky conditions will prevail thereafter and rainfall activity will increase in the coming days,” said Anupam Kashyapi, head of the weather forecasting division at IMD, Pune.
In the monsoon season so far, Pune city has recorded 574.5 mm of rain, which is about 25 per cent above the seasonal average, whereas Pune district has recorded 36 per cent surplus, which was quantitatively 1001.8 mm since June 1.