Kol Aug rain kitty adds up to 466.6mm, 31% surplus of average monthly count
Times of India | 28 August 2024
Kolkata: The multiple spells of rain across the city in the past five days have added around 160 mm of rainfall, pulling up the August rain kitty of Kolkata to 466.6 mm. While four days are left till the end of the month, the cumulative rain count for August has already surpassed the normal count for the month.
According to the Met office, Kolkata’s normal rain count for August, the second rainiest monsoon month, is 364 mm.With the cumulative rain already inching towards the 500-mm mark, the monthly excess rainfall as on Tuesday was 31%. Till Tuesday, the city should have had normal rain of 322.7 mm. “The good amount of rainfall over the past few days have not only led to the monthly surplus in Kolkata but it has also pushed down the seasonal shortage to just 7%, counted as ‘normal’ in the Met parlance,” said H R Biswas, head of the weather section at Regional Meteorological Centre Kolkata.
Even as the spells of rain became sparser and less intense on Tuesday, the Met office recorded 63 mm of rain on Monday, while for the three previous days the figures were 42.2 mm, 18.8 mm and 34.2 mm.
The August rain bumper comes after the city witnessed a rain shortage in the past three successive years. “While in June, rain deficiency was high in Kolkata, in July the count was normal. Now in August, we have received excess rain, making the seasonal rain count normal,” added Biswas.
June started on a rain deficit note due to late monsoon arrival followed by a sluggish monsoon flow. The month ended with the city recording 49% rain deficit. Even as Kolkata received a fair amount of showers in July, it was not enough to make up for the shortage, leaving a seasonal gap of 30%. Aug started on a wet note, with the city receiving several spells of rain. While it rained on most days, the spells in the past four days pushed up the monthly rain count majorly. The surplus in Aug has now mitigated the shortage. Now, the city has only a 7% shortage, and according to Met office, plu-minus-19% is “normal”.
“We expect some rain in the last few Aug days. But the intensity and spread are likely to be less,” said Biswas.
The maximum temperature was 28.9°C, close to four notches below normal, and minimum 25.4°, one degree below normal.