After a parched period of five months and nine days, many parts of Bengaluru received rain on Thursday (May 2) evening. Rain lashed Banashankari, Vijayanagar, Ulsoor, Indiranagar, and Frazer Town, while many other areas received light to moderate rainfall.
Varuna Mitra, the 24x7 help desk of Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, showed that Bengaluru City (BBMP limits) received 4.3 mm rainfall as of 8.45 pm.
The rainfall details (zone-wise) data showed that the South Zone received 7.27 mm rainfall, Bommanahalli Zone 0 mm, Mahadevapura Zone 3.25 mm, West Zone 4.88 mm, Dasarahalli 2.63 mm, Rajarajeshwarinagar 6 mm, East Zone 1.96 mm and Yelahanka Zone received 2 mm rainfall as of 8.45 pm.
Bengaluru last received rain on November 23, and since then, the city has witnessed dry weather conditions, with temperatures reaching record highs on many occasions.
Some parts of the city received drizzle on April 19 and 20. However, the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) observation data recorded at 5.30 p.m. on April 19 stated that the three stations—Bengaluru City, Kempegowda International Airport, and HAL Airport — received 0 mm rainfall.
Likewise, on April 20, Bengaluru city recorded 0 mm rainfall and the two other stations recorded trace (less than 0.2 mm) rainfall.
The IMD observatory recorded 0 mm of rainfall in April. This phenomenon was last observed in 1983. Since then, there has been rainfall in April every year.
On Thursday evening, IMD issued a nowcast stating that light to moderate thundershowers accompanied by lightning and gusty wind speeds reaching 30-40 kmph are likely at isolated places over Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru Rural districts.
During the summer months of March, April and May, Bengaluru city normally receives a rainfall of 205.1 mm.
Last year, during these three months, Bengaluru received 67% above normal rainfall, which is an all-time high, as the city received 342.6 mm.
However in 2024, during March and April Bengaluru received 0 mm.
