Raining here, dry there!

Weird Pattern

While some areas in the City receive heavy rains and even hailstorms occasionally, others just have drizzle which eventually fade out bringing back the heat again.

Most residents don’t know what to make of the changing weather which seems to vary between two extremes. Bangaloreans find this strange weather phenomenon pretty annoying. Most complain that they are unable to make plans. They find themselves stuck either at work or cooped up at home unable to venture out due to excessive rainfall in their locality while the rest of the City experiences only drizzle.

Manasa A V, a professional says, “It is very strange and I have been a victim of weird weather many times. Recently, I was driving down from work. At Domlur it was just a light drizzle while on Bannerghatta Road, it was pouring!”

In a similar situation was Akhila B N, a CA student, who says, “I had made plans with friends but was unable to venture out because of sudden rains in my locality. My friends, who stay on the outskirts, didn’t get any rainfall and were quite miffed that I couldn’t make it.”

When asked as to what could be the reason for this unequal distribution of rainfall within the City, Abhishek Iyengar, a theatre person, says, “Trees have been cut down in some areas. Areas in the City which have more tree cover get more rainfall, while the newer areas with fewer trees are hotter and get less rainfall.”

Chandra Shekhar Balachandran, director, The Indian Institute of Geographical Studies, throwing more light on the issue says, “Firstly, greater urbanisation means more paving of surfaces. These paved surfaces retain more heat and release that during night.

Polluted air in the environment trap this heat resulting in a localised greenhouse. Secondly, buildings that use air conditioning emanate a lot of the heat which would otherwise be inside the building.

Other air conditioning (such as vehicles) and refrigeration also pump heat into the atmosphere. These create urban heat islands – localised pockets of atmospheric heating. The local heating creates convectional upswells of air. In the absence of wind, as this air rises, if there is enough moisture in the atmosphere, it can cause late afternoon showers.”

Further elaborating on the green cover of Bangalore he says, “Interestingly, the way Bangalore is ‘botanised’ throughout the year, we have a green cover consisting of a mix of species. However, this balance appears to be in danger as indiscriminate felling of trees in the name of development continues – both by government and private enterprises. Whatever replacement planting is being done must be sensitive to the environment of Bangalore. Not all trees are suitable for our area.”

The officials from meteorological department too said that there was nothing strange about the phenomenon. “March-May is departmentally classified as pre-monsoon thunderstorm season. Thunderstorms are mainly a local phenomenon covering a distance of up to 100 km. Based on which area gets heated up more, rainfall occurs. Therefore, certain areas get rainfall while others don’t.”