The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow rainfall alert in Pune city for the next 24 hours. Eleven districts in Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada, including Pune, Satara, Sangli, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Ahmednagar, Beed, Solapur, Osmanabad, Latur and Nanded, may experience light to moderate rainfall in isolated places on August 30, and a yellow alert has been issued in these districts.
Pune and many other districts in Maharashtra have been experiencing little to no rainfall since the beginning of August and there is little chance of the state receiving good rain in the coming days, according to experts. Currently due to the influence of local weather conditions however, the state may experience light to moderate rainfall in the next 24 hours in isolated areas.
Anupam Kashyapi, head of the weather and forecasting division, IMD Pune, said that there is no strong weather condition active over Maharashtra which is why the state may experience light rain in the next five days. This is worrisome for farmers as rainfall this monsoon has been below-normal. According to Kashyapi, there is a need to adopt methods to mitigate the impact of below-normal rain.
Weather models indicate the possibility of a monsoon revival, for about 10 days starting September 4. The Kerala and Karnataka coasts, and eastern parts of central India are likely to get above-normal rain. While the rest of the country is likely to experience below-normal rain. However, there is no certainty about how much the rainfall deficiency will improve, said Madhavan Rajeevan, former secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
