The heavy downpour over the last few weeks in Bengaluru has resulted in a 66-year-old record being broken.
The city has witnessed the wettest May since 1957 as it recorded 301.3 mm (31cm) of rainfall. The previous highest record for the month of May was in 1957 when 287.1 mm rainfall was recorded, said A. Prasad, scientist, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Bengaluru.
Normal is 13 cm
Mr. Prasad added that the normal rainfall for the month of May in Bengaluru city was 13 cm for the period 1991 to 2020, but this year it has gone to 31 cm.
On May 30 the city recorded 65.2 mm rainfall which is the highest for this month. On May 30 the Kempegowda International Airport and HAL Airport recorded 7 mm and 32.4 mm rainfall respectively.
“We can attribute it to climate variability and not climate change. Climate change is a paradigm shift in climatic patterns. If you look at the seasonal rainfall in Bengaluru June, July, August and September are the monsoon months and during these four months Bengaluru has to receive 60 cm. Only on three occasions in 2013 2017 and 2022 it has hit above normal and all other years it has been normal and only one year in 2019 it was slightly below normal,” Mr. Prasad said.
Moisture holding capacity
He added that a one-degree rise in temperature causes a seven percent increase in moisture-holding capacity. “If there is an increase in moisture-holding capacity the air is drier and therefore what happens is thunderstorm activity will be more and cyclonic storm activity will be less. Thunderstorm activity will be intense and its frequency will also increase,” he said.
The IMD forecast for the next 48 hours is generally cloudy sky, light to moderate rain and thundershowers very likely to occur towards evening and night.
“Gusty winds with wind speed reaching (30 to 40) kmph are very likely during thunder activity. Maximum and Minimum temperatures are very likely to be around 31 and 20 Degree Celsius respectively,” the IMD forecast stated.
