Bengaluru breaks record for wettest May in history

Bengaluru: This May is now the wettest in recorded history for Bengaluru city, breaking the 2023 record of 30.5 cm rainfall.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Meteorological Centre, Bengaluru, the city has already received a cumulative 307.9 mm (30.7 cm) of rain as of 6 am on May 26.

DH had first reported this possibility on May 20 that Bengaluru was set to record the wettest May this year. As of May 19, the city had received 24.6 cm of rainfall.

The earlier record for the most cumulative rainfall for this month was set in May 2023, when the city received 30.5 cm of rainfall, breaking a 66-year-old record of 28 cm set in May 1957.

The highest rainfall received in May before this was in May 2022, with 270.4 mm, May 2017 with 241.9 mm and in May 2018 with 239.8 mm, according to the IMD. This is well above the mean total rainfall in May, calculated from 1991 to 2020, of 128.7 mm. The top five highest rainfall records in May occurred in the past decade.

Pre-monsoon season rainfall

In this pre-monsoon season from March 1 to May 26, Bengaluru Urban recorded 340.6 mm (34 cm) of rainfall, a 155 mm departure from normal.

In Karnataka, the average actual rainfall for this season (until May 25) was 232.8 mm, against the normal of 96.7 mm.

Across subdivisions, pre-monsoon showers have brought rains in abundance, with South Interior Karnataka receiving 249.1 mm of rain this season, against the normal of 124.1 mm. North Interior Karnataka subdivision has received 201.8 mm rainfall between March 1 and May 26, against the normal of 67.5 mm; and Coastal Karnataka, where the IMD has consistently been forecasting heavy to very heavy rainfall, has received a whopping 528.7 mm rainfall, 352 mm above normal.

The top five highest monthly rainfall amounts in May

• May 2025 - 307.9mm

• May 2023 - 305.4mm

• May 2022 - 270.4 mm

• May 2017 - 241.9 mm

• May 2018 - 239.8 mm