Karnataka faced deficient rainfall in the first three months of 2024, departure by -34%: KSNDMC data
The Hindu
Bengaluru, Karnataka faces deficient rainfall in early 2024, with heat wave conditions and a slight chance of rain ahead.
Karnataka which has, for the last few days, witnessed dry weather conditions along with heat wave conditions in a few northern districts has received deficient rainfall in the first three months of 2024.
As per the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre’s (KSNDMC) cumulative rainfall data from January 1, 2024, to April 1, 2024, the State has received 9 mm of rainfall during this period. The normal rainfall projected for these three months is 14 mm and there has been a departure of -34%.
Region wise, south-interior Karnataka has received 6 mm as against the normal 18 mm with a deficiency of -68%, north-interior Karnataka has received 2 mm as against the normal 12 mm with a deficiency of -82%, the Malnad region has received 26 mm rainfall as against the normal 19mm and the coastal region has received 32 mm rainfall as against the normal 14 mm.
Rainfall is considered normal when it varies between +19% and -19%, deficient when it varies between -20% and -59%, large deficient when it is -60% or less %, excess when it varies between +20% and +59% and large excess when it is +60% and above.
Though the State has received deficient rainfall during the first three months of the year, experts say nothing is alarming about this trend.
“The normal rainfall between January and March is very minimal. These three months are not ‘rainfall months’. January usually gets a normal 2 mm rainfall, the rainfall pattern for February is also similar, but in March we get about 8 mm of rainfall. All put together we get about 10-12 mm rainfall,” said Dr. G.S. Srinivasa Reddy, former director, KSNDMC.
Dr. Reddy added that the deficiency of rainfall is not alarming, but the rise in temperatures above normal is alarming.
The Election Commission of India will hold a press conference on June 3, a day before the counting of votes polled in the Lok Sabha polls. Till the 2019 parliamentary polls, deputy election commissioners used to hold media briefings after each phase of polls, but the practice has been done away with.