With the pre-monsoon showers eluding Bengaluru, the city has witnessed the driest April in the last four decades.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) observatory recorded 0 mm of rainfall during the month. This phenomenon was last observed in 1983. Since then, there has been rainfall in April every year.
“In 1983, we did not record any rain in April. Since then, we have had rain/light rainfall in April. After 1983, this is the first year when we have not had any rainfall, making this April the driest in the last 41 years,” IMD officials said.
On April 19 and 20, some parts of the city received a light drizzle, the first in 2024. However, the IMD’s observation data recorded at 5.30 p.m. on April 19 stated that the three stations—Bengaluru City, Kempegowda International Airport, and HAL airport—received 0 mm rainfall.
Likewise, on April 20, Bengaluru city recorded 0 mm rainfall and the two other stations recorded trace (less than 0.2 mm) rainfall.
According to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre’s (KSNDMC) district-wise cumulative rainfall recorded between April 1 and 30, 12 districts, including Bengaluru Urban, received a large rainfall deficiency during this period. The 12 districts are Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru, Chitradurga, Ballari, Hassan, Kodagu, Mandya, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, and Ramanagara.
According to the data, six districts—Yadgri, Raichur, Koppal, Vijaynagar, Davangere, and Dakshina Kannada—had a deficiency in rainfall. One district, Kolar, recorded no rainfall.
Six districts received normal rainfall: Belagavi, Bagalkot, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and Chikkamagaluru. Three districts - Vijayapura, Uttara Kannada and Shivamogga - received excess rainfall, and three districts - Bidar, Kalaburagi and Udupi - received large excess rainfall.
Rainfall is considered normal when it varies between +19% and -19%, deficient when it varies between -20% and -59%, large deficient when it is -60% or less, excess when it varies between +20% and +59% and large excess when it is +60% and above.
As per KSNDMC’s district-wise pre-monsoon rainfall pattern-2024 recorded between March 1 and April 30, one district received no rainfall, 12 districts received significant deficit rainfall, eight districts received deficit rainfall, eight districts received normal rainfall, and two districts received excess rainfall.
