‘April Showers Bring May Flowers!’- Thunderstorms Last Night & This Morning create Cool Temp
Mangaluru : The proverb “March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers”, or the shorter, trochaic version “April showers bring May flowers” are common expressions in English speaking countries. Whatever the versions are, monsoon seemed like it came few weeks earlier than the expected time which starts in June. It did pour down heavily between 10.30 pm-11.30 pm, and the rain was quite enough to dampen the soil, creating some cool temperature, and it was a relief for plants and trees, etc etc. Being lockdown with not much people and motorists on the road, and also while most of the citizens were in bed, the rain came down heavily for a while. Usually, the pre monsoon is expected sometime in the third week of May followed by South West monsoons in the first week of June.”Probably it rained due to Global Warming? say a few people.
It was around 10.30 pm or so I heard dogs barking, and went out to see what was going on- and to my surprise is was raining heavily. Cool breeze spread a blanket of pleasant weather around bringing down the summer heat considerably. The breeze was accompanied by heavy downpour, along with thunders that continued for a while. The late night showers gave some respite from the dryness the city had endured for over last few months. The heavy rain was enough to wet some of the items or clothes left out to dry- and the hundreds of homeless and migrants stranded on city roads had to run for shelter under shops or bus shelters.
For that matter, Rain in April is seen quite rare. One question many citizens may ask- “How come it rains here in March?” The adage ‘When it rains, it pours!’ seems to be particularly apt for the month of April? What kind of rain is this, which comes but rarely, but pours a lot when it does? – I bet many will ask. Sources reveal that in all, Coastal City Mangaluru occasionally gets off-season rains from oceanic depressions in the months of February and March. While infrequent, they can contribute to significant rains in the city when they do appear. It is easy to claim that Mangaluru’s summers are starting early and thus the summer rains are starting early as well, but the evidence for such a case remains weak. Now, will such oceanic depressions over the Indian Ocean become more frequent or more intense due the climate change? The most honest answer one can give today is ‘Maybe’.
And due to this early Monsoon rain last night and this morning, a white foam or scum was observed on some of the roads of the city. This is because the rain water mixes with a few months’ worth of oils, tar and rubber that have accumulated on the roads. It is possible that they make the roads more slippery than usual. But we should be all happy that at least, this rain did cooled down the temperature a bit- and if it continues for the next few hours- I bet everyone will have a cool and pleasant day ahead.
During last weekend and few days back, the temperature in Mangaluru is 34-36 degree Celcius, and this morning it is around 27-28 degrees- chances are the temperature could go up little higher in the later hours. But as of now, 7 am on Saturday 25 April it is still cloudy outside, with sounds of thunders being heard, and its raining heavy. The forecast for the next 48 hours says rain/thundershowers would occur at most places over Coastal Karnataka and at many places over interior Karnataka. But you can’t always rely on the weatherman -it could rain or it could be sunny. Until then let’s keep our fingers crossed, and hope for a sunny bright weather rather than a gloomy wet weather during the week.
