Panaji: Goa has recorded a 35.2% rainfall deficit so far this monsoon, receiving 1,124mm of rain against the normal 1,735.4mm between June 1 and July 24 — a shortfall of 611.4mm. With only about 44 inches of rain in the first 55 days of the southwest monsoon, the state is lagging well behind last year’s pace, when it had crossed the same mark within 40 days.Meteorological data shows that July is typically Goa’s wettest month, with all rain gauge stations usually crossing the 2,000mm mark and pushing the state’s cumulative rainfall beyond 50 inches. This year, however, Sanguem, the wettest station so far, has recorded only 1,493.8mm, while Panaji has emerged as one of the driest locations with a seasonal total of 713.7mm.Meteorologist MR Ramesh Kumar attributed the weak monsoon to a combination of atmospheric factors, including fewer convective weather systems over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, the Madden-Julian Oscillation, a weak low-level jet stream at around 1,500m that normally carries moisture into peninsular India, and a large convective system over the south China Sea that disrupted the monsoon circulation over the Indian subcontinent.He said it would be difficult for Goa to make up the deficit in the remaining monsoon period. “It is really a Herculean task to reach the century mark before the monsoon season ends, by Sep 30, especially in an El Nino year,” Kumar said.
