Several parts of the state were lashed with heavy showers, accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning last night. The sudden showers, with hardly any signs of warning, caused much disquiet among local Goans.
Across the state, this year’s monsoon season witnessed surplus rains, as many parts of Goa witnessed heavy showers up until even during the last week. According to data from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Goa has witnessed the highest rainfall recorded in over a century – 41% more than the normal rainfall.
Usually, the south-west monsoon showers culminate by the end of September, and the first week of October sees Goa witness the post-monsoon showers or the withdrawal of monsoons as it is called. This year, however, the south-west monsoon is set to have a withdrawal from the entire county from tomorrow onwards, October 28.
With this withdrawal, the northeast monsoons rains are also likely to begin along the Tamil Nadu and coastal parts of Andhra Pradesh areas.
“With likely setting in of north-easterly winds in the lower tropospheric levels along and off the east coast of India and adjoining Bay of Bengal, including over Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu coasts. The southwest monsoon is likely to withdraw from the entire country around 28 October,” the IMD said in a statement.
In Goa, the wet trend of monsoon showers was also seen in the post-monsoon rainfall. These showers, usually experienced after the culmination of the four-month-long rain season, also witnessed 35% above normal rains.
For this month of October, Goa witnessed 195.7mm of rain, while usually, 145.2mm is considered normal. Overall, this year, Goa witnessed 162.1 inches of rainfall, the last recorded so high was 160.9 inches in the year 1961.
This year’s surplus rains in the state, and also along the west coast of the country have been attributed to the common El Nino effect. The warming of the surfaces of the temperatures along the Pacific ocean directly contributes towards a potential increase in a rainfall coming through the south-west monsoon winds.
With the heavy showers in the state last night, the pull-out of the monsoon showers will result in a few other parts of the state also witness certain rain spells over the next two-three days.
These sudden rains, however, have left much of the crops damaged across the state, many of which were scheduled to be harvested during these weeks.
