Next round of showers in city not before July 3: IMD

PUNE: The dry spell of two days in the city notwithstanding, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast has predicted brief light spells of rain or cloudy skies till July 3. IMD officials say that the sudden decrease in rainfall activity is primarily because of the absence of active monsoon systems during the past few days. Pune recorded 0mm rainfall on Friday and Saturday.
A met department official told TOI on Saturday that currently there is no cyclonic circulation or a low pressure area to trigger good rains over the city. "There is one offshore trough extending from the south coast of Maharashtra to Kerala, but the consequent showers will be limited to the coast. Regions on the right side of the Western Ghats — such as Pune, central Maharashtra and Marathwada — may not benefit much from this trough as the Ghats act as an obstacle to the rain," the official said.
He added that the monsoon systems have weakened in the last two to three days. The good rainfall spells that the city had a few days ago were primarily because of the deep depression over the Arabian Sea at that time. "As of now, we do not see any such system forming in the next few days that may trigger good rainfall activity in and around Pune," the official said.
Pune last recorded just 4.4 mm rainfall till 8:30 am on June 25. Other major met office stations in Maharashtra too have recorded none or minimal rainfall in the past 24 hours ending on Saturday morning. For instance, Mumbai and Sangli received scant rainfall, whereas Nagpur, Nashik, Solapur, Ahmednagar, Satara, Malegaon, Parbhani and Akola received no rainfall at all during this period.
Stations which did have some rain include Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri, and Jalgaon. The highest recorded rainfall in the state was in Jalgaon at 5.6 mm.
Meanwhile, the state agriculture department officials do not see the ensuing period of subdued rainfall activity as a major threat to Kharif sowing. "Sowing in Marathwada is in full swing due to the good rainfall it received during the second week of June. In such regions, the crops will require rainfall during the second week of July, which is not expected to be totally dry," an official said.
He added that some parts of Vidarbha and western Maharashtra experienced water logging due to excess rainfall recently and therefore will begin sowing in the next four to five days. "The prospect of subdued rainfall in the coming days is actually good for these regions. So, considering the over-all conditions, subdued rainfall in the coming days should not have a negative impact on sowing. The only concern is for those regions in state that have received less than normal rainfall till now," the official said.