PANAJI: Cloudy weather prevailed for most of the day on Saturday, as India meteorological department (IMD), Panaji, forecast rain or thundershowers at isolated places over both districts for four days till Tuesday. During the last 24 hours, there was just 0.5mm rainfall in Margao, a trace in Panaji, while other centres received no rainfall. “The wind patterns are influencing the weather. The westerly winds from the Arabian Sea are bringing moisture and easterly winds at 700 hPa (3km above atmosphere) are advecting clouds towards Goa region,” Rajasree VPM, scientist at IMD, Panaji, said. While this April ended as the wettest April for 85 years (since 1937), rainfall during May so far has been sparse. During the past nearly two-and-a-half months, Pernem witnessed more rainfall activity as the rain gauge centre in the town recorded 205.8mm of rainfall. Sanquelim also received higher rainfall of 110.9mm, Mapusa 75.9mm, Margao 70.2mm, Sanguem 69.2mm, Panaji 61.1mm, and other centres on a lesser scale during the 70+ days. Valpoi had recorded 59.3mm till April 22, but the total has not been updated since then. At the peak of summer, the maximum temperatures have been within normal range. On Friday, the mercury actually went down 2.3 degrees below normal, as IMD, Panaji recorded a maximum temperature of 31.6 degrees Celsius. It rose slightly to 33 degrees Celsius, just 0.9 degrees below normal while many places in the country have been affected by a heat wave.
Panaji: The monsoon may hit Goa marginally earlier this year, as India meteorological department (IMD) said on Friday that it will reach Kerala around May 27, a few days earlier than the normal onset date of May 1. Even as the IMD issues a forecast for the monsoon’s onset over Kerala, it doesn’t predict its progression as it moves north towards Goa. This is because the monsoon’s progress depends on factors such as strength of the current and localised weather features. “The normal onset date of monsoon over Kerala is June 1 and normal date of progress of monsoon over Goa is June 5. This year, monsoon onset is likely over Kerala 4-5 days ahead of its normal date,” IMD scientist Rahul M said. The prediction of May 27 is subject to a model error of plus or minus four days. Rahul said that the data from the past decade or so suggests that there’s no correlation between the monsoon’s arrival in Kerala and its reaching Goa. “There are several examples to show that there may not always be a four-day gap between monsoon onset over Kerala and monsoon advance over Goa,” he said. “Two years – 2017 and 2018 – the monsoon onset was before the normal date over Kerala, but it arrived over Goa two to three days later than the normal date. Whereas in 2021, it arrived on the normal date over Goa, even though the onset date over Kerala was two days late,” he said.
