Gaja effect: Karnataka districts may receive rain over weekend

ccording to the Indian Meteorological Department, rainfall is forecast for districts of South Interior Karnataka including Bengaluru for three to four days, starting Thursday.
North East monsoon( Photo | Ashwin Prasath/EPS)
North East monsoon( Photo | Ashwin Prasath/EPS)

BENGALURU: Thanks to Cyclone Gaja, a temporary respite from the ongoing dry spell is expected due to the ongoing North-East monsoon season, especially in parts of Bengaluru and other South Interior Karnataka districts. The cyclone, which is currently situated in the Bay of Bengal, is moving westward and is expected to make landfall on November 15, causing heavy rainfall in parts of the East coast in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and moderate to heavy showers in parts of Karnataka.

However, meteorologists say that the impact of the cyclone would be much less than expected, as the weather system had weakened from a severe cyclonic storm to a cyclonic storm. According to the Indian Meteorological Department, rainfall is forecast for districts of South Interior Karnataka including Bengaluru for three to four days, starting Thursday. During this period, light to moderate rainfall is expected to be fairly widespread.

Speaking to The New Indian Express, S S M Gavaskar, scientist at Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell said that the effect of the cyclone will be reduced if it heads towards the Southern coast of Tamil Nadu. “Though there will be rainfall even if the cyclone moves South, its effect will be less than expected for Karnataka,” he said.

Rainfall is likely to be scattered in parts of Karnataka. Cloudy conditions will prevail from November 15 in parts of SIK and North Interior Karnataka, he added.

Failed monsoon

KSNDMC data shows that the State was witnessing sparse North-East monsoon as it has received only half the rainfall expected for the period. While the overall average rainfall between Oct 1 to Nov 13 was around 153.3 mm, the state received only 80.37 mm.Like the South West monsoon, the North Interior Karnataka region is the worst hit during the North-East monsoon season too, where the region had received 68 per cent less than normal rainfall.

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