Panaji: Consistent rainfall, though light to moderate, in the first fortnight of Aug has outstripped the intensity of monsoon activity in July’s first half while helping restrict the previous month’s deficit to a reasonable level.As against the normal value of 1,047mm, erratic rainfall in July with unusual breaks, including dry days from July 11 to 14 and another dry day on July 29, yielded only 662.2mm.Of this, July’s first half produced only 276.3mm, significantly less than 353.1mm which has been recorded in Aug’s first fortnight.The total of 353.1mm in Aug so far without a single rainless day is slightly less than 385.9mm recorded in July’s second fortnight.Three days of brisk rainfall, 47.8mm on Aug 3, 44.4 on Aug 4, 35.5mm on Aug 5, and also 33.3mm on Aug 7, have boosted the month’s total. The lowest 24-hour daily average rainfall recorded during the month was 6.6 on Aug 10.“The boosting of monsoon rainfall in certain epochs in July and Aug was primarily due to low-pressure systems in the Bay of Bengal,” said M R Ramesh Kumar, chief scientist (retired) at NIO and meteorologist.These systems subsequently negated the concurrent effect of El Nino in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, he stated.On Saturday, the seasonal total touched 1,648.5mm, as compared to the normal value of 2,407mm at this stage – a deficit of 31.5%.“The formation of a positive Indian Ocean dipole (IOD), an ocean-atmospheric phenomenon, can also help reduce the deficit in the subcontinent, including Goa,” Kumar said.
