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Karnataka likely to get rain over next one week

Special Correspondent

Prospects are not bright for Kerala; situation is worse in south Peninsula

NEW DELHI: Coastal Karnataka, north interior Karnataka, Marathwada and Madhya Maharashtra, which have been facing a severe water shortage, could get some relief in the next one week.

The prospects for Kerala, which too has been facing a serious deficiency of rainfall, however, do not seem to be bright at least in the next one week.

“There are indications that a mid-troposphere circulation could form over Gujarat in the next 48 to 72 hours and in association with the low pressure area already present over Orissa, it could bring good rains over central India and along the west coast from Gujarat to Karnataka over the next one week,” said an expert of the India Meteorological Department.

North India has been the major beneficiary of the monsoon so far.

Of the four homogenous regions, only northwest India has recorded rainfall over and above the average.

It has recorded 27 per cent more than its long period average (LPA).

Of the three other regions, the situation is worse in south Peninsula, where the rainfall has been deficient to the extent of 16 per cent.

In central India, the cumulative rainfall was deficient to the extent of seven per cent and in northeast India, to the extent of four per cent.

South peninsula comprises Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Central India comprises Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Goa and Orissa.

The northwest comprises Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir, and the northeast consists of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim.

Puducherry worst-hit

The Union Territory of Puducherry has been the worst affected with a deficiency of minus 38 per cent of its LPA, followed by Nagaland (minus 37), Meghalaya (minus 35 per cent), Manipur (minus 34 per cent), Kerala (minus 33 per cent), Karnataka and Mizoram (minus 23 per cent each), Tripura (minus 22 per cent), Maharashtra (minus 20 per cent), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (minus 19 per cent), Gujarat (minus 18 per cent), Goa (minus 14 per cent), Chhattisgarh (minus eight per cent), Himachal Pradesh (minus seven percent), Assam (minus six per cent), Lakshadweep (minus four per cent) and Delhi (minus three per cent).

Of the 533 districts, 150 have received less than normal rainfall. Of them, 11 come under the scanty category, recording a deficiency of over minus 60 per cent.

They are Raichur and Bijapur in Karnataka (minus 63 per cent each); Wynad in Kerala (minus 62 per cent); Sangli in west Maharashtra (minus 60 per cent); Dewas (minus 67 per cent), Kurukshetra in Haryana (minus 63 per cent); Supal in Bihar (minus 77 per cent); west Singhbum in Jharkhand (minus 66 per cent); Lahul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh (minus 82 per cent), and Tuensang (minus 75 per cent) and Mon (minus 71 per cent) in Nagaland.

According to IMD experts, a major problem was that even as the monsoon advanced northward at almost double the normal speed wind flow was not strong enough.

Normally, on an average, four low pressure areas or depressions form every month from June to August over the seas adjoining the country.

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