Sudden rain springs surprise after heatwave alert, sultriness wanes

Panaji: Brisk rain in Goa triggered by an upper-air cyclonic circulation over western Madhya Pradesh and the neighbouring areas partly dissipated the heatwave declared by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Panaji, on Saturday. Another upper-air cyclonic circulation lay over Tamil Nadu and the neighbouring areas.
The rain in some parts of Goa brought relief from the sultry conditions after the meteorological centre had issued a yellow-coded alert for heat from Saturday to Tuesday.
After clear skies and dry weather in Goa, some parts of the state experienced short spells of rain on Saturday.
The skies continued to be overcast towards late evening.
During this summer, Goa has received some quantum of rainfall during 24-hour phases on a few days — 6.9mm on March 26, 0.1mm on March 30, 1mm on April 1, and 1.3mm on April 3.
The total pre-monsoon rainfall so far has touched 8.6mm as compared to the normal of 5.2mm, the surplus being 67.4%.
Saturday’s weather was not too uncomfortable, as the IMD recorded a maximum temperature of 34.9 degrees celsius in Panaji, just 1.9 degrees above normal, despite the heatwave alert.
In Mormugao, it was almost identical at 34.8 degrees celsius. The minimum temperatures were 25.9 degrees celsius and 26.2 degrees celsius in the city and Mormugao on Saturday morning.
For the next few days, the IMD, Panaji, has forecast dry weather and hot and humid conditions as signalled by the yellow heat alert.