HYDERABAD: It was raining hard for the last two days and last year’s rains wreaked havoc inundating many parts of the city for several weeks.
These wet weather conditions notwithstanding Hyderabad along with Jogulamba Gadwal district has recorded the highest number of annual dry days (278) in Telangana.
As per the latest data of the state planning department, in the last 15 years the city has recorded the highest number of dry days. The city gets rain only for 87 days a year. Dry day according to the meteorological department is when the cumulative rainfall received over a period of 24 hours is less than 0.2 mm or not enough to be measured.
Some interesting details according to the Weather and Climatology of Telangana analysis are as follows. Of the 278 dry days, 59 are during the South West Monsoon between June and September and 79 are during the North East Monsoon season (October-December). As expected the highest number of dry days (82) are in the summer, followed by 58 in winter. The state, meanwhile, has 258 dry days, 20 less than the city.
After city and Jogulamba Gadwal, Wanaparty has highest number of dry days (275) and lowest number of dry days are in Bhadradri Kothangudem (233), Vikarabad (244) and Khammam ( 246) districts.
According to the data, the city had 20 dry spells between 2004 and 2020. At shorter time scales, the day-to-day variability of rainfall is characterised by wet and dry episodes. They are referred as spells of continuous rain or no rain.
Explaining the reason behind the dry days in the city, climate expert Dr Rama Rao said, “Unlike districts like Bhadradri , city is in the Deccan plateau. Climatic conditions are the reason for rain in other areas.”
