Recent rains due to weather system near coast

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the recent spate of plentiful rains was due to a cyclonic circulation near the coast, which was now losing intensity.

The wet spell had been most intense in the coastal districts of Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, apart from Malnad districts such as Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, Kodagu and some parts of Belagavi.

However, scientists at the weather department have forecast that the rains would lose intensity in the week to come.

“There was a circulation over coastal Karnataka for a few days. It was a circulation from mid-sea level up to 5.8 kilometres. So that persisted for two to three days and brought heavy rainfall events in coastal Karnataka,” an IMD scientist said.

“The circulation has weakened,” he added. According to IMD, Karnataka had a cumulative rainfall deficit of 18 per cent this monsoon.

Monsoon wet to withdraw from state

The scientist said that the South West Monsoon (SWM) had not yet withdrawn from Karnataka, adding that it had done so in the northwest Rajasthan.

He disclosed that they expected SWM to withdraw from the state anywhere between October 15 and the end of the month. He said that the recent showers had also led to reduction of the rainfall deficit.

Moreover, catchment areas such as that of Cauvery river, Bhagamandala in Kodagu district, had led to better inflows into Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) Dam in Mandya district.

The scientist added that there had been intensification of ‘El Nino’ or abnormal warming of the surface water in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, which may aid suppression of rainfall in the country besides causing there to be fewer and less intense cyclonic circulations.

The phenomenon may also cause a slightly warmer winter, he said. The government had said 195 taluks had been droughthit.

Under the parameters, there has to be a rainfall deficit of 60 per cent for a taluk to be declared as being affected.

Cloud seeding in Belagavi

Cloud seeding was undertaken in Belagavi district this past Friday since 12 of the 14 taluks therein had been listed as drought hit. Interestingly, the exercise was funded by Belgaum Sugars, a private company owned by Minister for Public Works Satish Jarkiholi.

Cloud seeding refers to certain salts being dropped from aircrafts onto clouds to artificially induce rain. Its effectiveness is debated. The IMD scientist said that cloud seeding might as well have been tried in Kodagu district since it was the catchment area for Cauvery, adding that the deficit in the district was 43 per cent.

“Cloud seeding could have been done in Kodagu, where the Cauvery basin is there and the deficit there had been 43 per cent,” he said.