Following Bengaluru’s hottest August day in a decade on August 28, 2023, the city recorded the wettest day of the year on August 31 as moderate to heavy rainfall lashed the city on Thursday night.
The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) observatory in Bengaluru documented rainfall of 136.5 mm up until 8:30 a.m. on Friday, September 1. According to KSNDMC, the highest rainfall recorded was at Rajamahal Guttahalli, west zone.
The poor progress of the southwest monsoon has left people in Karnataka worried. From August 1 to 31 (until 8.30 pm), the India Meteorological Department (IMD’s) Bengaluru city observatory received only 12.6 mm of rainfall. In fact, during the last week of August, people in Bengaluru had been complaining about the sweltering heat in the city as mercury levels continued to go up. On August 28, the city recorded its hottest August day in a decade as the temperature touched 32.6°C, which was 4.5°C above normal.
But there is good news ahead. A. Prasad, a scientist at IMD Bengaluru, said, “In the next few days, above-normal rainfall is expected throughout the State and city. For the next two days too, rain and thundershowers are likely to occur in a few places in interior Karnataka and rain in a few places over coastal Karnataka.”
The KSNDMC predicts that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) areas will experience widespread light to moderate rainfall over the next 24 hours, with isolated instances of heavy rain possible.
In a statement, the KSNDMC said, “Widespread very light to moderate rains with heavy rains in isolated places are likely over south interior Karnataka districts, and scattered to widespread very light to moderate rains likely over north interior Karnataka, Malnad, and Coastal districts. Thunderstorms with lightning is likely at isolated places over the State for the next 24 hours.”
