February ends with 81% rainfall deficit in State

February 2025 saw Karnataka facing severe rainfall deficiency, raising concerns of water scarcity and rising temperatures.

A hot and dry February ended with an 81% deficiency in rainfall for Karnataka overall, with some districts recording a 100% deficiency.

From February 1 to 28, North Interior Karnataka (NIK) and South Interior Karnataka (SIK) had 98% and 80% deficiency, respectively; only the Coastal Karnataka subdivision saw +17% rainfall. Several districts witnessed -100% departure from normal. These include Bagalkote, Ballari, Belagavi, and Tumakuru. Udupi had +106% departure from normal for the month.

Bengaluru Urban and Rural had -46% and -43% departure from normal.

However, unlike the last few years of Bengaluru that made it to the hottest day for February charts of the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) list, the February of 2025 remained out of it. February 2010 to 2024 make up for the hottest days in the chart, though the highest ever maximum temperature was in 2005, when the maximum temperature touched 35.9 degree Celsius. Last year February, the record was 35.4 degree Celsius.

This year, the rising mercury levels have been pushing up electricity demand as well as raising fears of another summer of water woes, pushing the government to take contingency measures before summer fully sets.

Last week, the State Energy department said that IP set consumption is around 6,000 - 7,000 MW a day on average, but in recent days, while peak load is around 18,000 MW, around 8,000 MW is from IP sets.

The IMD, Bengaluru, says there is no immediate relief in sight for the State as far as the skies opening up is concerned. C.S. Patil, scientist and director, IMD, Bengaluru, said though the deficiency is not severe, considering that January and February are not big rain months, some relief can be expected by the end of March.