Maharashtra: At 303.5mm, Shivajinagar gets more October rain than Mahabaleshwar this year

PUNE: Shivajinagar has recorded much higher October rainfall (303.5mm) this year as compared to several other locations like Mahabaleshwar, which are known to receive more rainfall than the Pune location.
The normal monthly October rainfall total for Shivajinagar is 105mm. It has recorded 303.5 mm rainfall till now, with over a week left for October to come to an end. The normal monthly October rainfall for Mahabaleshwar is 157.6mm, while the location has received over 261.7 mm rainfall during the month so far.
IMD data showed that Shivajinagar has received an excess of 237.1mm rainfall so far in October, by recording the second highest October quantum in over a decade.
The data showed that in the last 122 years, the maximum number of short and intense rainfall events in Pune have occurred during the last decade. KS Hosalikar, head, Climate Research and Services, IMD, Pune, said, "Rain in Pune seem to be more regular these days than it was during the monsoon season. We had several spells this October when rain in many locations in Pune was moderate, but with intermittent intense spells with thunder and lightning too."
JR Kulkarni, chairman of the India Meteorological Society, Pune Chapter (IMSP), told TOI. "Such extreme events can be partly attributed to climate change and global warming. Because of the increase in temperature, the moisture holding capacity of the atmosphere increases. If there is a 1° increase in temperature, the moisture holding capacity of the atmosphere increases much more. Hence, regions already prone to high rainfall get much higher amounts."
A study by the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, Ministry of Earth Sciences, published earlier this year revealed that projections suggest that most susceptible places for increasing heavy rainfall extremes are likely to be Mumbai, Pune, Panaji in the Western coasts of India (Western Ghats), Itanagar and Shillong in the North-East India, Raipur and Bhopal in the Central India in near- and late-21st century under all scenarios in a warming climate. The projected future extreme rainfall counts are based on bias-corrected climate models. The study had found that frequency of extreme rainfall on the rise over Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.