Met forecast: More rains than last year

Mysore: The monsoon forecast for the state is encouraging as it is likely get more rainfall this season than last year. While the rainfall during the monsoon, which is slated to set in after June 3 is likely to be  five per cent lesser than the average received by the state over the last 30 years, it had received 18.5 per cent lesser rainfall than average the last monsoon.

The Cauvery catchment areas of Mysore, Mandya and Chamarajnagar  too  could get only 10 per cent lesser rainfall than average when last year they had got 35 per cent lesser, going by senior meteorologist and professor and head  of  Agro Meteorology at the University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK,  M. G. Rajegowda.

The state which receives 72 per cent of its annual average rainfall of 1190mm during the South West Monsoon, could fall short of this by five per cent this year, according to him. “The monsoon which will set in by June first week will last till October second week and it is anticipated that from June to September the state will receive an average of 197mm, 293mm, 205mm and 165mm of rainfall respectively,”  he adds.

Like the rest of the state the Cauvery catchment area seems to be doing better this year as it had recorded 35 per cent lesser rainfall than average last year.  “The intensity of the South West Monsoon depends on global phenomena such as the pressure gradient between the Indian and Pacific Oceans,”  Rajegowda explains.