Monsoon gets a wake-up call from Bengal

Jamshedpur, July 21: Jharkhand is set to experience heavy rains from tomorrow, continuing its spread across the state in the next couple of days, signalling a revival of sorts for the monsoon that was dormant for over a week.

Met office sources identified a low-pressure zone across Gangetic West Bengal as the trigger for the heavy showers predicted in the next 24 hours.

"Jharkhand is expected to get a good spell of rain in the next few days due to the active monsoon trough coupled with formation of a low pressure zone in Gangetic West Bengal. We have, therefore, issued a heavy rainfall warning for the state in the next 24 hours," said a duty officer at the Patna Meteorological Office.

Regional Meteorological Centre at Alipore in Calcutta also confirmed the observation. "The impact of the low pressure will result in heavy rains in Jharkhand in the next 24 hours," said director G.C. Debnath.

Weathermen said the monsoon trough, which had shifted towards the south depriving Jharkhand of rain for more than a week, had been restored. "Chart analysis revealed that the monsoon trough is passing through Daltonganj today. This will definitely intensify rainfall activity," said a weather analyst.

Against an average normal of 454mm, Jharkhand has so far received over 500mm of rain. The Singhbhum-Kolhan region ' comprising East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan ' recorded an excess of 34 per cent rainfall, while Bokaro recorded 31 per cent. Garwah and Deoghar recorded about 27 per cent excess rain.

Weathermen at Patna Met office said the percentage of surplus rain had reduced in the last week due to shifting of the monsoon trough. But, the situation was expected to turn around soon with the restoration of the trough.

So far, Ranchi has topped the rain--metre with the local Met office recording 754mm. Jamshedpur, which has recorded 622.6mm rain, comes in close second. Heat chamber Daltonganj, too, has notched a stunning 556 mm, while Bokaro recorded 510.5mm of rain.

During July last year, Jamshedpur had recorded barely 109.5mm rainfall, while the state capital had recorded 135mm.

Districts like Bokaro, Dhanbad, Deoghar, Simdega, Koderma and Hazaribagh had all received showers below 110mm.