BENGALURU: Even though light to moderate showers recorded in various parts of the State over the course of the week has come as a relief, only three districts in the State have received normal rainfall during the month of September. The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell (KSNDMC) data indicated that apart from North-interior Karnataka, even coastal and Malnad regions have received almost no rainfall during September.
However, due to deep depression in the Bay of Bengal developing into a cyclone, fairly widespread rainfall is expected in North-interior and coastal Karnataka during the next three days. During the same period, scattered light to moderate rainfall is expected in parts of South-interior Karnataka, according to C S Patil, in-charge director, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Bengaluru.
Patil said that the ongoing dry spell in several parts of the State has worsened the conditions of agricultural drought in rain-fed regions of the State. Noting that the rainfall forecast will be of little use to crops grown in the Kharif season, he said that the rains might only benefit sowing for the Rabi season.
According to KSNDMC data, Kolar, Chamarajanagar and Chikkaballapur are the only three districts to have received normal rainfall in September, even though rainfall has been deficient for the overall monsoon season, which started in June.
While Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara, Mandya, Hassan and Vijayapura districts have received deficient rainfall (lesser than normal by 20 to 59 per cent), 21 other districts, including Malnad and Coastal districts, have received scanty rainfall (less than normal by 60 to 99 per cent).