Published On : Thu, Sep 1st, 2016

August left Nagpur high and dry, city faces 58% rain shortfall!

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nagpur rainNagpur: With no rains throughout entire August, the month turned out to be the driest in 12 years and widened the Nagpur rain deficit to 58% below normal. In August the city saw only 117.5 mm rains agains the normal figures of 280.6 mm.

The figures are similar for other districts of the region as well. This has resulted in Vidarbha as a whole seeing 47% less than normal rains. The deficit is as high as 63% in Yavatmal, 61% in Chandrapur, 58% in Nagpur, and 56% in Bhandara. They are followed by 55% deficit in Washim and 45% each in Akola and Amravati. Gadchiroli was deficient by 31% and Gondia did the best at 19%.

However, thanks to the bountiful rain in June and July, the rainfall is still 4% surplus for Vidarbha as a whole. Only Bhandara, Gondia and Nagpur districts are deficient by 27, 11 and 10% respectively while all other districts have overall surplus rainfall.

The city, on the last day of the month, recorded rainfall of 34.8mm from 8.30am on Tuesday to 8.30am on Wednesday. It further added another 8.6mm up to 5.30pm on Wednesday. Over Tuesday night and Wednesday, Brahmapuri recorded the highest rainfall in the region at 65.4mm.

August, not surprisingly, also turned out to be a very warm month, with the maximum temperatures being around 30 degrees Celsius. This month recorded a high of 35.1 degrees Celsius on August 25. Though high, it was still less than the 37.8 degrees recorded on August 25, 1899, the highest maximum temperature ever seen in August. The city also recorded 35 degrees on August 29 this year.

There was no rainfall on eleven consecutive days, from August 13 to August 23, and on six other days the city recorded as little as 0.6 to 0.2mm rainfall. Highest rainfall in the entire month was recorded on August 3 at 41.3mm. On all other days, the rainfall didn’t cross 5mm, except for August 5, when it rained 13.6mm, and Tuesday night. The lowest minimum temperature was recorded at 21.6 degrees on August 21.