Team Herald
PANJIM: The late arrival of the monsoon and scarce rainfall has left the State with a deficit of 22 percent against the average seasonal rainfall for the period from June 1 to August 26 with the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) revealing that the deficit will not be covered.
As per data with IMD, Goa received 80.59 inches of rainfall from June 1 to August 26 against the average of 103.37 inches.
Speaking to Herald, an IMD-Goa official said, “The basic reason is that in the month of July, the State received 25 percent less rainfall and this is due to less activeness of the offshore trough which generally continues for many days off the west coast of Maharashtra to Kerala.”
The official further said that cumulative rainfall from June 1 to August 26 was 2,047.1 mm against the normal precipitation of 2,625.8 mm, which was minus 22 percent less than the normal rainfall.
He added, “This year the offshore trough is very weak and was often not present. Whenever it has been present it has been very weak and due to this the State is left with a deficit of 22 percent which is not going to be covered.”
“Light to moderate rain/thundershower are most likely to occur at most places over Goa during next five days,” the IMD weather forecast states.
IMD on Wednesday recorded temperatures of 29.4 degrees Celsius. The weather report states that in the past 24 hours Dabolim, Pernem and Margao recorded 3 cms rainfall each, while Sanguem and Quepem recorded 2 cms each, Canancona, Valpoi, Sanquelim recorded 4 cm each while Ponda recording 6 cms and Mapusa recorded the highest of 7 cms.
The forecast for Panjim in the next 24 hours is intermittent rain/thundershowers with temperatures likely to be around 29 and 24 degrees Celsius.
