The India Meteorological Department (IMD) Monday forecast isolated instances of heavy rainfall in Bengaluru and surrounding districts till October 13. The rainfall will coincide with the withdrawal of the Southwest Monsoon ahead of the onset of the Northeast Monsoon season. As of Monday evening, the Southwest Monsoon withdrew from parts of North Karnataka, with conditions favourable for its withdrawal from the entire state within the next week. During the period, fairly widespread rainfall is likely in parts of the state, especially the South Interior Karnataka region. The IMD has issued a Yellow Alert (Be Aware) for Karnataka till October 18. According to data shared by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, while the Southwest Monsoon rainfall has been normal this season, October rainfall has been below par. The normal rainfall for the first 13 days of October is 71 mm, whereas the state has received 48 mm – a 33 per cent deficit. The deficit is due to reduced rainfall in North Interior Karnataka, Malnad and Coastal districts, where rainfall has been 69 per cent, 21 per cent and 49 per cent less than normal, respectively. In contrast, South Interior Karnataka – which Bengaluru is part of – has 22 per cent excess rainfall due to the spell of heavy downpour last week. Overall, in the monsoon season from June 1 to September 30, Karnataka has received normal rainfall – clocking 882 mm against an average of 852 mm for the period. North Interior Karnataka, which faced flooding due to heavy showers towards the end of the monsoon season, received 21 per cent excess for the period – recording 579 mm against a normal of 479 mm. Of the districts in the state – six districts in North Interior Karnataka have received excess rainfall during the season, whereas 23 districts have received normal rainfall. Bengaluru got 437 mm of rainfall during the season, against a normal of around 470 mm. It is among the 23 districts that received normal rainfall. Two districts, Mysuru and Chamarajanagar, received deficit rainfall.
