Telangana Faces 37% Rainfall Deficit in August as Bay Depressions Miss State

Telangana has recorded a 37 per cent rainfall deficit so far this August, with five depression weather systems over the Bay of Bengal failing to bring adequate rain to the state, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials in Hyderabad. The overall monsoon deficit across the state currently stands at 17 per cent.

A sixth weather system is in the process of forming over the Bay of Bengal, but it is not expected to bring substantial rainfall to the state. An upper air circulation has formed in the northwest Bay, to the south of West Bengal, and is projected to develop into a depression within a day or two.

“It is as yet uncertain which way the latest one that is still forming will go,” said Dr GNRS Srinivas, a senior meteorologist from the India Meteorological Department.

All five depressions formed over the northwest Bay of Bengal and typically moved in a northwesterly direction. Only one system during the final week of July took a different trajectory, moving over Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra to deliver much-needed showers to Telangana. The exact formation and track of these depressions are governed by sea water temperatures, wind patterns, and currents.

The unpredictable monsoon pattern has been attributed to the El Nino phenomenon, which is steadily gaining strength and expected to peak in December. The weather pattern ended expectations of above-normal rainfall for Telangana in August, which the IMD had previously projected as a possibility.

Meteorologists expect September to be drier than August unless conditions shift significantly. Dr Srinivas indicated that the trend of lower rainfall is expected to persist unless a weather system forms closer to the Andhra Pradesh coast in the West Central Bay. A definitive forecast for September will be released by the IMD towards the end of August.