Pune: After days of subdued monsoon activity, rainfall finally intensified sharply over parts of the Western Ghats in Maharashtra, with several stations recording triple-digit rainfall in the 24 hours ending 8.30am on Monday.The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast a further increase in rainfall activity over the state over the next few days, issuing a yellow alert for heavy rainfall in the Pune ghats from July 2.Many ghat locations, which had been recording only light to moderate rain or little rainfall over the past several days, witnessed a sharp increase in precipitation. Lonavla (Off) recorded 160mm, Dungerwadi 158mm, Walvan 125mm, Tamhini 125mm, Koyna (Pophali) 125mm and Lonavla (Tata) 100mm in the 24 hours ending Monday morning.Rainfall also picked up across Pune district. Rajgurunagar received 77.5mm of rain, followed by Malin (43.5mm), Dudulgaon (36.5mm), Narayangaon (36mm), Baramati (22.4mm), Dapodi (22mm), Daund (21mm) and Nimgiri (18.5mm). Shivajinagar, the city’s official observatory, recorded 11.8mm, while Chinchwad received 2mm and Pashan 0.5mm, till Monday morning. Later in the day, parts of Pune city recorded very light rain with 1mm rain in Lohegaon and no rain in Shivajinagar.The IMD’s local forecast stated that Pune city was likely to experience generally cloudy skies with light rain on July 1 and light to moderate rain thereafter. Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely at a few places in the Pune ghats on July 2, accompanied with an orange alert. The warning is similar for July 3, when heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely at a few places, with isolated extremely heavy rainfall over the Pune ghats.Pune district, meanwhile, is expected to witness thunderstorms accompanied by lightning, light to moderate rainfall and gusty winds of 30-50 kmph over the coming days. Across Maharashtra, IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall over Konkan and Goa at many places on July 2 and 3, with isolated extremely heavy rainfall.The weather office has attributed the expected increase in rainfall to a combination of existing synoptic systems. The IMD’s latest bulletin has, however, not indicated formation of a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal so far, as has been indicated by several private and independent weather forecasters.GP Sharma, president (meteorology and climate change) at Skymet Weather, said a low-pressure area was likely to develop around July 1, which could strengthen rainfall activity over central India. “A low-pressure area should form around July 1. As it moves inland, it will bring good rainfall over Maharashtra. Most of the activities will take place between July 1 and July 7 or 8, during which the state is expected to receive decent rainfall, with some places likely to witness heavy spells,” he said.Konkan coast, including Mumbai, is likely to continue receiving heavy rainfall through the period, while rainfall over the interior districts of Maharashtra is expected to increase between July 3 and July 7 as the system progresses inland. “This will be the first active spell of the rainy season. Initially, the coastal areas will receive more rainfall. As the system moves inland, widespread rainfall, with scattered heavy spells, is expected over central India, including Maharashtra,” Sharma said.
