After a long lull, monsoon showed signs of strengthening, thanks to unexpected weather changes. Northern parts of the State are likely to witness continued rainfall during the first half of the week.
A low-pressure system in the west-central Bay of Bengal had unexpectedly turned southwards and moved towards the State, said Naga Ratna, Head of Weather Forecasting at India Meteorological Department, Hyderabad. It also merged with another system, causing heavy to moderate rainfall in many parts of Telagnana over the last two days.
On Saturday, Mallur in Mangapet mandal of Bhupalpally district recorded 163.3 mm rainfall, the highest for any location until 8 p.m. On Friday, two mandals in Khammam recorded extremely heavy rainfall exceeding 204 mm.
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Rain-related disruption was noted in northern and eastern districts, including Karimnagar.
Weather experts said scattered, moderate-intensity rainfall can be expected on Sunday. A weather system is also expected to form on Monday.
“A low-pressure weather system is expected to form in the northern Bay of Bengal. If it turns southwards, northern Telangana can receive rain early in the week. After that, we expect reduction in rainfall,” Dr. Ratna said.
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This monsoon season, more than half of the State’s 584 mandals are faced with rainfall deficiency, the Telangana State Development Planning Society said. Aggregated rainfall recorded across Telangana’s districts was 345.8 mm on August 10, against a seasonal normal of 438.4 mm.
Temperature dips
In Hyderabad, the rainfall caused the maximum temperature to dip. Though the city only witnessed light rainfall on Friday and Saturday, the maximum temperature on Saturday dipped to 24.7 degrees Celsius, down from about 32 degrees Celsius recorded during most days of last week.