3RD WETTEST JUNE DAY IN 21 YEARS STUNS CITY

Santa Cruz Has Already Covered 12% Of Annual Rainfall; Intensity Of Showers May Ease Over Two-Three Days

    Sunday marked the city's third-highest one-day June rainfall in 21 years. Santa Cruz created the record with 181mm of rain—a notch lower than 184.4mm on June 12, 2011, and a good 28mm short of 209.6mm on June 24, 2007. 
    That apart, in the 24 hours from Sunday 8am to Monday 8am, the island city recorded an average of 70mm while the eastern and the western suburbs recorded 109mm and 159mm, respectively. 
    What's more, Mumbai suburbs also recorded the highest rainfall in the state this season, followed by Thane, which too received a substantial 150mm. 
    Sunday's sudden downpour, which led to water-logging in several localities across the city, grounded scores of Mumbaikars who get the weekend off to conduct their weekly shopping and other chores. 
    The heavy showers continued on Monday morning. By evening, Colaba had recorded 58mm while Santa Cruz 59.7mm. What's more, Santa Cruz has already covered about 12% of the annual rainfall. In just 10 days of June, Colaba received 270mm while Santa Cruz got 361mm. 
    According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the excessive rainfall is a by-product of the double systems that are currently active near the city's coast. "There is an offshore trough stretching from Gujarat coast to Kerala coast. Moreover, there is an upper air circulation over the trough. Cumulatively, these are causing the heavy rains and thundershowers over the city," said N Y Apte, deputy director general of the IMD, Mumbai. 
    The rain has further brought down the heat. Though humidity levels are understandably high, maximum temperatures on Monday were 26.8 degree Celsius in both Colaba and Santa Cruz—both more than six degrees below normal. 
    The southwest monsoon has further advanced to some more parts of the north Arabian Sea, Saurashtra, Kutch and Gujarat region, the remaining parts of Madhya Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Odisha, Bay of Bengal, most parts of Chhattisgarh and Gangetic West Bengal as well as some parts of south Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. 
    Tuesday, though, is likely to see the rains ease, said the IMD. The met department forecast occasional spells of rains or thundershowers; one or two of these spells may be heavy. "We will have to wait and watch, but the upper air circulation may weaken in a day or two. This will decrease rainfall intensity," said Apte. MONSOON METER 
Above average rainfall cheers parched state Sandeep Ashar TNN 
Mumbai: The onset of monsoon in the drought-hit state has been impressive. So far, about 60% of the state has received above average rainfall. 
    Data from the chief minister's office shows that 21 of the 35 districts in the state received morethan 100%of the rainfall usual for this time of the year. 
    These districts include some of the worst-hit by drought, such as Jalna, Aurangabad, Satara and Sangli, where the precipitation recorded was 123%, 138%, 176% and 179% of normal, respectively. 
    Since June 1, the city suburbs have recorded 301 mm rainfall, which is 166% of the average. 
    The island city received 213 mm, or 116% of the normal rainfall. Rainfall in neighbouring Thane was 142% of the average.Only threedistricts,Gondia,Bhandara and Nagpur in Vidarbha region, received rainfall that was below 50% of the average. Eight districts witnessed 50-75% of the average rainfall. 
    About93%of the average rainfallwas recorded in Beed district, which, too, faced ravaging drought conditions over the past months. 
    Thehighestdeviation was recordedin Dhule, where rainfall was 281% of the normal precipitation, followed by Ahmednagar at 221%, Sangli at 179% and Satara at 176%. 
    Latest official data shows that water in reservoirs in the state stands at 14% of capacity. Senior state officials said they were hoping the good spell of rain would continuesothatwater levelsin dams rise.