Delhi sees 37% rain shortfall though it recorded wettest June in 10 years

The national capital is reeling from 37% deficit rain this August, after recording the wettest June for more than a decade.

The forecast for the weekend is rain and thundershower, but that won’t be enough to offset the shortfall this monsoon.

“On an average, Delhi receives around 434.2mm of rain between June 1 and August 17. But till date this year, it got only around 272.1mm of rain. This is 37% less than what the city receives,” said a senior official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the country’s official weather forecaster.

During monsoon that runs from late June to September, the city gets around 636.2mm of rain with the maximum of about 468mm between July and August.

“Of the 272.2mm that Delhi received so far, around 191.9mm was registered in June, making it the wettest June for more than a decade,” said another senior weather official.

That means the city got around 80mm of rain in July and August 17.

Data available with the IMD say the Capital hasn’t received such low rain in July in five years.

Met officials explained that the atmospheric system is hardly string this monsoon to churn rain out of the clouds.

“We need a cyclonic circulation, a trough or a low pressure area to trigger rain from clouds. Only then we would get heavy widespread rain. Else, there would be rain in isolated places,” the official said.

Relief could on the way as a cyclonic circulation is likely to develop over Bay of Bengal this week.

“This system is likely to move northwestward and drag the monsoon trough closer to Delhi. This could trigger rain in the city over the weekend,” the official said.

New Delhi alone is not suffering a rain deficit. Adjoining Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh are going through a rainless, humid spell as well.

Punjab has received 16% less rain so far. But rainfall is considered deficient if the gap is 19% or above.