After dry July, Ludhiana logs mere 0.8mm rain in August 1st week

After a July which saw the lowest amount of rain in the last five years, August too has opened on a dry note for the city. The city only saw 0.8 mm rain in the first week of the month. The normal rainfall for the week was expected to be 51.3 mm.
Explaining the monsoon deficit in the region, Sompal Singh from the Department of Agricultural Meteorology, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), said. “This year formation of low-pressure area which moves northwest and brings rains to our area was either weak or didn’t form at all resulting in movement of monsoon through the foothill with less rainfall in the plains including Punjab”
“There was also no active western disturbance which enhances rainfall in our region,” he added.
He also highlighted weak El Nino conditions, which continued till July, to contribute to deficit rainfall conditions.
El Nino is a global climate phenomenon, which is known to suppress rainfall over India during monsoon.
The highest maximum and minimum temperatures were also recorded to be above normal. The highest maximum temperature was 34.7 degrees celsius against a normal of 33.2 degrees celsius. The highest minimum temperature was recorded at 28.8 mm against 26.1 mm normal.
Sompal said that in the next four to five days moderate rainfall was expected in the region.
Sompal said, “Another two months of monsoons are left and we hope that the rainfall in will make up for the deficit.”
Earlier in July, the city recorded only 134.2 mm rain against a normal of 220 mm the city, the driest July in five years.
The IMD had predicted an above-normal monsoon this season.
“The upcoming monsoons are expected to be stronger compared to the normal amount of rainfall the state receives during the monsoon season from July to September,” director of IMD’s Chandigarh center Ajay Kumar Singh had claimed earlier in June.