State sees wettest spell in over a month

Panaji: A state average rainfall of 38.9mm recorded during the past 24 hours till Saturday morning became the wettest spell for 35 days as farmers breathed a sigh of relief at the timely monsoon activity. Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely in a few places in Goa from Sunday to Tuesday, as per the forecast by the India meteorological department, Panaji.
The highest 24-hour spell of 40.5mm of rainfall was last recorded on August 6. The days that followed witnessed weak or light monsoon activity as the deficit started rising and stood at 12% till a few days ago.
The weakening of the monsoon current had started after the extremely heavy rainfall during the first 17 days of July. The heaviest 24-hour spell of this season of 161.7mm was recorded by IMD on July 8, while 80.4mm was the last indication of moderate rainfall activity on July 17.
But on Saturday, the seasonal total had reached 2,498.2mm, as compared to a normal of 2,798.3mm, a deficit within an acceptable range of 10.7%.
During the past 24 hours, only the Ponda centre recorded a near-heavy rainfall of 63mm, but it occurred in most places of the state, irrigating paddy at the critical flowering stage and other crops in time.
Among other centres, Panaji recorded 60.9mm, Sanquelim and Old Goa 60.2mm each, Mapusa 45.2mm, and Sanguem 39.2mm.
On Saturday, a low-pressure area in Bay of Bengal off north Andhra Pradesh-south Odisha coast had intensified into a well-marked low-pressure area.
“A trough running from east central Arabian sea off Konkan coast to the system in Bay of Bengal has yielded good rainfall. But the quantum will reduce as trough will move further north of Goa and the system in the Bay of Bengal as well,” Rajasree V P M, scientist, IMD, Panaji said.
Apart from heavy rainfall, squally weather with wind speeds of 40-50 kmph, gusting to 60 kmph, is very likely along the north Maharashtra coast till September 14, the IMD’s weather warning added. Fishermen have been advised against venturing into the sea during this time.
So far, all except one rain gauge station in Goa have recorded total rainfall beyond 2,000mm. The highest recorded rainfall from the start of the season on June 3 till date is at Pernem with 3,115mm and the lowest is at Dabolim with 1,954mm.