Next 48 hrs key to fate of summer

Next 48 hrs key to fate of summer
Thursday April 3 2008 10:00 IST

Bosky Khanna

BANGALORE: Meteorologists have said rain or the lack of it over the next 48 hours would determine whether the city will have its typical “April showers.”

That would be crucial to how hot the summer will be. Met officials have said that if the trend of frequent thundershowers continues over the next 24 hours, Bangalore would have to forget about its traditional “April showers”, which are also popularly called “mango showers”.

Temperatures are likely to soar to over 35 degrees C in the summer if these showers do not occur.

Two weeks of rain and thundershowers in South Interior Karnataka due to cumulus clouds have already made the summer season (March to May) shorter and pleasanter, besides advancing what might otherwise have been “April showers”.

In March, 2008, Bangalore received 63.2 mm and the airport recorded 234.5 mm rainfall. The highest rainfall in March was recorded in 1981, when the City received 101.2 mm rainfall.

In April 2001, the city recorded a maximum of 323.8 mm of rain. Average March rainfall for Bangalore calculated over the past 30 years has been 4.4 mm, while it is 46.3 mm for April.

Senior meteorologist at the Bangalore Meteorology Centre, B Puttanna, said that if the present rains stopped in the next 24 hours, the next few days in April will see temperatures over 35 degree C, which is above the normal temperature.

But if rains continue, Bangaloreans could even witness hailstorms like the one witnessed recently in areas of Bangalore South.

The present rainfall which Bangalore is experiencing is due to air circulation in the southern peninsula which has brought over 10 cm rainfall to Bangalore last week due to cumulus clouds (vertical cloud plumes) between 10-15 km altitude, which are uncommon for the city in March. They have, for the first time, given Bangalore above-normal rainfall in March.

Puttanna said if the present rains continue for another month (which is unlikely), temperatures will dip. This might also affect the normal monsoon rains.