Panaji: With the first fortnight of Sep recording scarce rainfall so far, the weak monsoon pattern of the previous three months continues, as the month logged just 83mm of rainfall in 12 days. The overall seasonal rainfall deficit in the country stands at 28%. But in Goa, the deficit is higher due to a downward spiral in monsoon activity this month witnessing four dry days.A rainfall of less than 2.5mm is considered a dry day and the last three were dry ones. No rain was recorded during the last 24-hour till Saturday morning, just 0.1mm was recorded on Sep 11 and 0.7mm on Sep 10. On two other days, only 0.3mm was recorded on Sep 7 and 2.3mm on Sep 9.The shortfall during Sep is significantly more due to El Nino conditions and lack of convective systems in Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. This makes reduction of the overall deficit difficult.“Most of the rainfall during this month occurs during the first two or three weeks, as the southwest monsoon starts withdrawing from northwestern parts of India by Sep 15,” said M R Ramesh Kumar, chief scientist (retired) of NIO and a meteorologist.On Saturday, the seasonal total so far had touched 1960.1mm, as compared to a normal value of 2835mm – a shortfall of 30.9mm. Considering the normal value of Sep rainfall, the deficit for the month is 39%.“The climatological mean rainfall (as per analysis of data from 1961-2010) for North Goa and South Goa districts during Sep has been 315.1mm and 340mm. The mean state rainfall has been 327.5mm,” Kumar said.
