Feels like rainy season already?

Feels like rainy season already?

Staff Reporter

Airport recorded 234.5 mm rainfall in March

The average rainfall for March is

5.5 mm

Bangalore: Thundershowers, troughs of low pressure and upper air cyclonic circulations. March, traditionally one of the driest months, has seen it all. If the city took a beating with an unseasonable rainfall of 63.2 mm (the normal for the month is just 4.4mm), the airport was all but inundated with a phenomenal 234.5 mm of rain (when the “normal” is 5.5 mm for the month).

This may not have been a record for March – the Meteorological Centre reminds us that in 1981 the city received as much as 101.2 mm. But the overcast sky and the sustained rain almost feels like the monsoon is here. In fact, the southwest monsoon may be a good two months away, but the total rainfall in the airport for March was the highest ever recorded in the city, according A. Muthuchami, Director of the Met Centre — and this figure is well above the wettest monsoon month of the city, September, which sees an average of 194.8 mm.

“It is not unusual to have thundershowers in March and April, but they are generally short lived, and occur in the evening,” says P. Goswami, scientist at the Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation.

“In contrast, we appear to be having rain lasting several days together.” Dr. Goswami said while the behaviour of the weather was unusual, it must be considered “anomalous” and could not as yet be associated with climate change.

And now April had begun with a new spell of showers, from a distinct downpour to a light drizzle depending on which part of the city you are in.

While the city recorded just 0.8 mm of rainfall, 28.2 mm fell in the airport. The rainfall on Wednesday was attributed to an upper air cyclonic circulation in Gulf of Mannar, according to Mr. Muthuchami.

“But this system is fast dissipating, and we should have clear skies by Friday,” he said.