This July was hot and dry — driest in the past 11 years.

Excluding the isolated rainfall on Wednesday evening (the Met department would record it as precipitation for August 1), Patna received just 53.6mm rainfall this month — the lowest since 2003. July 2011 with 102.9mm rainfall was the second driest in the past 11 years. The average normal rainfall in the month is 305mm.

The scanty rainfall pushed up the mercury column considerably. The mean maximum temperature this July was 34.6°C, the second highest in the past 11 years.

Not just Patna, July was dry in most parts of the state. The rainfall deficiency in the entire state surged from 12 per cent in June to 27 per cent by the end of July.

Bihar received only 182mm of rain in the past 30 days against the normal rainfall of 343mm during the same period — a deficiency of 47 per cent.

Weathermen attributed the scanty rainfall to the unfavourable position of the trough line and the diversion of low-pressure areas from Bihar.

“The eastern part of the monsoon trough line causes good rainfall in Bihar. But it remained tilted towards the south almost the entire July, leading to sparse rainfall in Bihar and Bengal this month,” said Ashish Sen, the director of India Meteorological Department (IMD), Patna.

Sen said the low-pressure areas — one of the major factors triggering monsoon rainfall — follows the path of monsoon trough line. “Eight low-pressure areas formed over the Bay of Bengal in June and July this year, sufficient for good rainfall in Bihar. But most of them bypassed Bihar and passed across Odisha and Chhattisgarh, leaving the state dry,” said Sen.

Patna received around 90mm rainfall last month. But the scanty rainfall in June did not bother the weathermen much. But they are concerned after the heavy shortfall in July.

“Monsoon normally picks up in Bihar from the first week of July. But this time, almost the entire month remained dry. We expect the monsoon to revive around August 10, but the chances of making up the rainfall deficiency in the next 20 days is bleak,” said Sen.

The Met department had earlier predicted 10 per cent surplus rainfall in the state in August.

“Apart from the possibility of light to moderate rainfall across the state on August 3 and 4, there would not be any significant rainfall till August 10. The trough line is expected to reach the favourable position by August 10 (Uttar Pradesh-Bihar-Jharkhand-Bengal), causing moderate to heavy rainfall in most parts of the state thereafter,” said Sen.

The dry July virtually gave the residents a patience test. “There has been hardly any rain this month and the temperature also remained high most of the days. My family members were down with viral fever because of such sultry and uncomfortable conditions,” said Sunita Sharma, a resident of Kankerbagh.

Health experts have cautioned residents about water-borne diseases.

“Growth of virus and fungi causing water-borne diseases like gastroenteritis, hepatitis and viral infections are common in monsoon. Throat infection and bronchial asthama are also common these days. People should drink clean water and properly cover the food items,” said Dr Rajeev Ranjan Prasad, a professor of physiology at Patna Medical College and Hospital.