Maha's rain-deficient districts drop from 20 to 6 after recent downpour
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Pune: The recent rainy spell in Maharashtra has dramatically reduced rainfall-deficient districts from 20 to just six as of Tuesday, bringing much relief to drought-prone Vidarbha and Marathwada regions.
Closer home, Pune district has seen a 28% surplus in rainfall this season.
The six districts facing rainfall deficit are Mumbai City (-22%), Ahilyanagar (-27%), Beed (-43%), Hingoli (-34%), Jalna (-27%) and Latur (-20%), IMD data showed. Most of these districts are from the chronically water-stressed Marathwada region.
The eastern regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada, which bore the brunt of the early season deficit, have shown significant improvement with districts like Nagpur (20% excess) and Wardha (10% surplus) moving from deficit to normal or excess categories.
In Marathwada, while some districts like Beed, Hingoli, Jalna and Latur remain in the deficit zone, the overall situation has improved markedly compared to the scenario in late June.
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As the state shows overall improvement, the traditionally rain-rich Konkan coast has witnessed subpar July rainfall, with Mumbai Suburban showing a 3% shortfall. Ratnagiri has a modest 1% surplus, and even areas like Raigad show only 7% excess, while Sindhudurg shows a 5% seasonal rain shortfall.
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Independent weather expert Abhijit Modak said, "Konkan received excess rainfall in June, but when compared with July, the rainfall was on the lower side of month's normal. Because of this, some Konkan stations have got below-normal rain. Mumbai city, particularly the Colaba area and surrounding parts, are now showing a deficit."
Modak said, "This time, the coast did not receive adequate rainfall. July did not experience the kind of rain it should have received."
The weather expert attributed this to specific atmospheric dynamics. "There are two types of systems that bring rain to this region. One system originates from the Bay of Bengal, while we receive moisture input from the Arabian Sea. In the Arabian Sea, an offshore trough forms along the coast, extending from the south Gujarat border to Kerala, which typically brings heavy rainfall to coastal areas," he said.
This time around, the westerlies strengthened when low-pressure systems formed in the Bay of Bengal.
"Due to these strong westerlies, the clouds that form in the coastal areas are quickly pushed toward the Western Ghats. As a result, we only got passing showers in the coastal areas, while the Western Ghats received heavy rainfall, as evidenced by the Tamhini Ghat area, which has recorded over 5,000mm of rainfall this season so far," Modak said.
He said, "Due to the strong westerlies, moisture gets trapped in the Western Ghats and becomes saturated there, resulting in heavy rainfall. In coastal areas, without the presence of the offshore trough, moisture is carried away from the coast toward the Ghats by the westerlies. Coastal weather stations close to the sea experience windy conditions with fast-moving clouds travelling at speeds of 50kmph, which can only produce brief and passing showers.
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