Why does rain this week in Pune feel like pre-monsoon showers?

The rainfall which is accompanied by thunder and lighting are reminiscent of pre monsoon showers which the city and district receive during April–May.

Driving through flooded areas, even if the water appears shallow, can be a deadly mistake. (File Photo)

Since the last two days Pune and its surrounding regions have reported medium to heavy rainfall especially in the evening. The rainfall which is accompanied by thunder and lighting are reminiscent of pre monsoon showers which the city and district receive during April –May.

Anupam Kashyapi, former head of weather forecasting India Meteorological Department (IMD) said this kind of rainfall is due to the absence of enough moisture to cause monsoon like continuous rains. “RADAR image shows that the state has moisture but not enough to cause continuous monsoon like rainfall. This has led to cloudy skies and an increase in day time temperature,” he said.

The high-day time temperature and moisture in the air has led to IMD to forecast the mild to medium rainfall in various parts of the district and city for the next 3-4 days. Typically, the rainfall starts in the evening after a day time marked by discomfort and heat. Thunder and lighting with wind is expected to accompany the rains. Mostly the rains get over within two hours.

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August so far has been dry for Pune barring these spells for intermittent rainfall. Pune district has so far received 997.8 mm of rainfall as against the normal of 683.4 mm of rainfall it was supposed to receive since the start of the monsoon in June.

Most of the dams which supply water to Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad are full with many dams continuously discharging water. July saw many parts of the city reporting floods. Very heavy rainfall in the pre catchment and catchment areas had caused the floods which led to several deaths.

Pune railway station flooded after heavy rain, passengers scramble to save luggage

Parthasarathi Biswas

Partha Sarathi Biwas is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express with 10+ years of experience in reporting on Agriculture, Commodities and Developmental issues. He has been with The Indian Express since 2011 and earlier worked with DNA. Partha's report about Farmers Producer Companies (FPC) as well long pieces on various agricultural issues have been cited by various academic publications including those published by the Government of India. He is often invited as a visiting faculty to various schools of journalism to talk about development journalism and rural reporting. In his spare time Partha trains for marathons and has participated in multiple marathons and half marathons. ... Read More

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