Gujarat received 817 mm rainfall till Wednesday, more than its seasonal average of 810 mm, even as a month remains for the monsoon season to end. This is the first time since 2013 that the state has got its share of rainfall before the end of monsoon. However, the MeT department has ruled out more rains in September.
According to the data of State Emergency Operation Centre, the 817mm is higher than the 30-year average of 810 mm rains.
Experts attribute it to the timely onset of monsoon in June, heavy and widespread rains in July, followed by widespread rains in August.
“The trend this year has been different from the past three years, when the onset was delayed, gaps between two spells were larger and heavy rains were extremely localised, with floods in some parts and drought in other,” said Jayanto Sarkar, director of India Meteorological Department, Ahmedabad.
The past three years, the state received about 65-70% of rains till the end of August.
Of late, it has been observed that traditionally, the rain-deficient regions of Saurashtra and North Gujarat receive excess rains, while South Gujarat and East-Central Gujarat region receive lower than average rains. In 2017, percentagewise, North Gujarat topped with 138%, followed by Saurashtra, with 103%. Kutch, South Gujarat and East Central Gujarat received 98%, 85% and 81% rains, respectively.
Of the top five districts in terms of percentage rains, three are from North Gujarat, while the remaining two are from Saurashtra. These include Banaskantha (183.67%), Patan (159.21%) and Gandhinagar (147.38%) in North Gujarat, and Morbi (186.22%) and Surendranagar (147.73%) in Saurashtra.
Similarly, of the top five districts with least percentage of rainfall, two are from South Gujarat and East-Central Gujarat each and one from Saurashtra. This include Vadodara (59.39%) and Chhota Udepur (71.31%) in East-Central Gujarat; Dangs (67.19%) and Tapi (69.38%) in South Gujarat and Porbandar (74.49%) from Saurashtra.
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