Representative image
Credit: iStock Photo
Bengaluru: The long dry spell in the city is said to continue for close to another week, with India Meteorological Department Bengaluru's recent forecast ruling out any rain till April 19.
According to the forecast, the weather might be slightly cloudy on Sunday but there are no chances of rainfall. From Monday, dry weather will continue in the city.
However, scientists at IMD are expecting some rainfall after April 20. "The position of the trough and wind convergence determine the rainfall. Now, there is no wind convergence and the position of the trough is not favourable to Bengaluru and hence the delay. Hopefully, in the coming days, if the trough moves east or deepens, Bengaluru will get rain," explained A Prasad, a senior scientist with IMD Bengaluru.
No rain, but temperature lower
Though the city has not received any rain so far this year, over the last two days, the temperature has come down by nearly three degrees Celsius. On April 6, Bengaluru recorded 37.6 degrees Celsius, the highest the city has seen in eight years. Since then, there has been a gradual reduction in maximum temperature.
On April 13, the city recorded 34.6 degrees Celsius, a drop of nearly three degrees. However, the maximum temperature has remained above 34 degrees Celsius, the normal average temperature for Bengaluru for April.
After zero rain days in March, IMD had predicted light to moderate rain by April 10 and this was later pushed to April 14. Now, given the unfavourable weather conditions, scientists are speculating that the city might receive only one spell of rain this month. "We are hopeful that we will get at least one spell of rain this month. However, chances of getting two or three spells of rain is very low," Prasad said.
Bengaluru usually receives 14.7 mm rainfall in March and 61.7 mm in April. However, this year, March was completely dry and in April, Bengaluru may record only 10 mm or 20 mm rainfall, way below the average rainfall.