Jamshedpur, July 11: Several parts of the state have gone without rain in the past couple of days following a shift in the monsoon trough.
Weathermen at the Patna meteorological office, which monitors weather conditions in the Bihar as well as Jharkhand, said the trough has shifted towards the north, depriving the state of much-needed rains.
?At present, the monsoon trough is situated over the states of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Assam in the Northeast. The trough has to return if Jharkhand is to receive adequate rainfall,? said T.N. Jha, director of the Patna Met office.
The monsoon was delayed by about 11 days this year. It arrived in Jharkhand on June 26 and since then, revealed figures available with the Met office, the state has received an average rainfall of about 125 mm.
According to the director of the Met office, the normal figure this time of the year should have been 328 mm. However, East Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan have so far recorded only about 185 mm of rains since the monsoon hit the state.
Rainfall in Dumka, Koderma, Sahebganj, Jamtara, Latehar and Hazaribagh were recorded between 160 mm and 190 mm. The statistics further revealed that in June and July, 2003, the twin districts of Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan recorded a rainfall of 422 mm followed by 441 mm in 2004.
Meteorological department officials are apprehensive that if the monsoon trough does not return in the near future, the state will record abysmally low rainfall.
A senior weather analyst said a westerly wind is blowing over Jharkhand at present. ?The westerly wind generally does not help in the formation of rain-bearing clouds. Moreover, we did not find any trace of low-pressure on the Bay of Bengal while analysing the weather chart today,? he added.
The office of the director-general of meteorology in Pune, in its long-range forecast, has predicted normal rainfall for Jharkhand and Bihar.
But, going by the statistics and the current weather condition, it seems that both the states will have deficient rainfall, sources said.
