Mangaluru/Bengaluru, May 30: A year after the worst drought in decades, widespread pre-monsoon showers have brought relief to the people from scorching heat and water scarcity across Karnataka.
The monsoon rains too expected to reach Karnataka soon as they already arrived at the Kerala coast and the Northeast today in line with the India Meteorological Department or IMD forecast.
The IMD's predicted onset date for southwest monsoon to hit the Kerala coast is June 1, making this year's monsoon arrival the earliest since 2011. The arrival of monsoon rains two days before the onset date has also brightened the outlook for higher farm output and robust economic growth.
On the other hand summer rains this month across Karnataka have been good compared to the prolonged dry weather last year and augurs well for all ahead of the south-west monsoon from June first week, Karnataka state Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre Director G S Srinivasa Reddy said.
With forecast of thundershowers and strong winds continuing in the Karnataka's southern region, the coastal Karnataka is expected to receive moderate to heavy rains this week.
Unlike last year, the south-interior, central and north-interior areas of the state received moderate to heavy rains since March and more so since May 10, filling up ponds and lakes and reviving water bodies to mitigate hardship of the people, especially farmers reeling under the impact of the drought.
"Rainfall for May has been 30 per cent excess in south-interior areas and normal in the Malnad region across the Western Ghats. Though there were rains in northern and coastal areas, inconsistency resulted in 25-30 per cent deficit in the north region," said Reddy, citing the weather data.
The precious and timely summer showers have also helped thousands of farmers and growers to take up agricultural operations, be it harvesting rabi crop in time and seasonal fruits like mango, water melon, grapes since March.
"The much-needed rains in the old Mysuru and Malnad region have also been a boon for cattle in human habitats and wild animals in the forests where water bodies like ponds and lakes had dried up," Reddy noted.
Summer showers during the last fortnight resulted in excess rainfall in and around Bengaluru. "The city received 319 mm rainfall from May 1 to 28, surpassing the previous record of 287.1 mm set in May 1957 and 178 mm in May 2015," recalled Metri.
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