By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Meghalaya with a whooping deficit rainfall of – 43% finds it among the list of the highest deficit rainfall states in the region. Barring Arunachal Pradesh, which has a normal – 9% rainfall, all the other states in the region recorded deficit rainfall in the monsoon season
The deficit rainfall states are Assam (– 25%), Manipur (– 45%), Mizoram (– 31%), Nagaland (– 40%) and Tripura (– 22%) deficit in the region. Meghalaya, which falls in the Assam – Meghalaya Meteorological Subdivision of the region, has recorded six monsoon rainfall deficit years since 2001 and is just behind Manipur.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, HG Pathak, Deputy Director General of Meteorology (DDGM), Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Guwahati said that normally there are two aspects of this deficit rainfall. “Firstly, formation of monsoon trough, that is, the line of low pressure in a monsoon regime is not formed. Secondly, depression in Bay of Bengal on which the northeastern region is dependent is not formed considerably since the associated low pressure system was recorded near Gangetic West Bengal and moved away from there without moving towards northeastern region, normally. Such type of behavior in the monsoon system results in deficit rainfall,” said Dr Pathak.
However, relief for the farmers as this deficit rainfall has not affected agriculture, horticulture and other crops in the region because the required rainfall is not insufficient. “Agricultural crops and greenery will remain in this condition though the number of representative rainfall is deficit, there is no ill effect of it on crops,” said the DDGM. While explaining that there are two types of monsoon trough – main and secondary – the former is flowing from Ganganagar towards Allahabad head bay whereas the latter is flowing from Central India – Chattisgarh towards northeastern region to separate states of the region. “It has been seen in case of secondary trough, which is flowing more towards Arunachal Pradesh foothills and Western Assamgets more rainfall whereas it is not so in the other states of the region which is experiencing cloudiness always because there is no formation of moisture in Bay of Bengal,” he said.
The Shillong plateau and Sohra along with the other regions of the state are experiencing a typical gloomy and cloudy weather for the last many days with sporadic “powdered” rainfall. “Though the monsoon trough is running, vertical extension is not there and so there is cloudiness. The vertical extension which normally runs from 3.1 km to 5.8 km is flowing less than normal,” said Dr Pathak. When asked if the deficit rainfall in Meghalaya can be made up by the end of the current monsoon season, he said that monsoon will end by September and there may not be “complete normalcy” and it could be somewhere in the region of – 25% to – 30%.
Meanwhile, the DDGM also emphasized that the state government in states like Meghalaya should take stronger steps in terms of rain water harvesting. “There should be rain water harvesting according to feasibility and such harvesting should be utilized for agriculture, too.
Besides people from the same background and similar institutes, biotechnology department etc. should come forward possibly with a good relation and interaction with the Indian Meteorological Department,” he said.