Notwithstanding the heat during summer, the district has received above normal rains in April with cloudy and overcast conditions prevailing in the region.
According to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), Mysuru received a cumulative rainfall of 95.1 mm from January 1 till April 23. The district received 48.1 mm of rainfall between April 1 and 23 against a normal of 44.5 mm and Mysuru received 30 mm of rainfall in March against the normal of 15.2 mm of rains.
The above normal rains coupled with cloudy and overcast conditions have helped keep the temperature under control and has made this year’s summer more bearable. However, high humidity has been reported on certain days which increased the discomfort level and has led to a perception that the day-time temperatures were higher than normal this year.
The scenario is similar in Mandya and Chamarajanagar districts as well. While Mandya received 56.5 mm of rainfall for the month of April so far, the normal is 31.3 mm. Heavy rains in parts of K.R. Pet taluk had resulted in widespread damage to standing crops recently. Chamarajanagar district received 69.1 mm of rains during April so far against a normal of 43.3 mm and the district too had reported crop loss due to rain followed by gale recently.
The summer rain so far has been uniform and widespread across Mysuru region and 5 out of 8 taluks have received rains higher than normal. According to KSNDMC, the cumulative rainfall for south interior Karnataka region from April 1st to 24th was 50.2 mm of rainfall against a normal of 29.6 mm. The forecast for south interior Karnataka region valid till Monday also indicate the possibility of light to moderate rains over Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Ramanagaram.
Given the prevailing weather conditions, the temperature also declined significantly and the maximum temperature for Mysuru was 32.7°C for the 24 hour period ending 8.30 a.m. on Sunday while it was 31.9°C for Mandya and 30.4°C for Chamarajanagar district.
Forest fires
It is pertinent to note that rains in the region also facilitated the Forest Department to lift their vigil over the possible outbreak of forest fires as the vegetation is moist and the threat of fire is minimal.
Drinking water
On the drinking water front, the authorities are comfortably placed as the live storage in the reservoirs will last through summer. While live storage in the KRS reservoir was 23.88 tmc ft, it was 9.88 tmc ft in Kabini, 20.86 tmc ft in Hemavathi and 5.38 tmc ft in Harangi. The cumulative live storage in the four dams in the Cauvery basin was 59.69 tmc ft against the installed capacity of 114.57 tmc ft as on April 22. Last year, the live storage on the same day was 40.48 tmc ft.
However, water is expected to be released for irrigation which will reduce the storage levels though it will not affect water supply.
