Rajasthan relieved over Monsoon's arrival, more rains predicted over next few days

Jaipur: Monsoon has entered the parched state of Rajasthan with many of its parts experiencing good spells of showers. Although the capital city, Jaipur saw an overcast sky in the morning today, heavy rains are still eluding it. 

According to IMD Jaipur, monsoons entered Rajasthan on June 26 via its southern and eastern parts. In the last 24 hours, parts of Bharatpur, Ajmer and Kota districts have been witnessing monsoon showers with thunder and lightning. 

Parts of Jodhpur, Bikaner, Udaipur and Jaipur districts are also witnessing light to medium rains today. 

Desuri in Pali district in western Rajasthan recorded 54mm of rain, while Dholpur in eastern Rajasthan recorded 131 mm, the highest in the last 24 hours.  Although temperatures which were surging as high as 46 to 47 degree Celsius this season, has seen a drastic fall of over 10 to 12 degrees. Jaisalmer recorded 31.5 degree Celsius today while Bikaner saw a high of 43 degree Celsuis.

Rains have been recorded in Beawar, Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Tonk and Jaipur and Kota districts. 

Residents of the state capital were overjoyed after clouds gathered and light rains started from evening yesterday, especially after the sizzling, unusual heat this summer. Today an overcast sky in the morning gave hope that the day would see some showers. But as the day progressed, the sun came out, leading to a more sultry weather.    

The weather department predicts that monsoon is going to advance to other parts of Rajasthan over the next three to four days. The state is likely to witness good monsoon activity over the next 12 days. It has also forecast an orange alert warning of heavy rains for parts of Sirohi, Udaipur, Dungarpur, Banswara and Pratapgarh districts in southern Rajasthan, coupled with stormy winds at the rate of 30 to 40 km/hour. 

And it has sounded a yellow alert for parts of Chittorgarh, Pali, Rajsamand, Jalore, Bhilwara with a wind speed of 20 to 30 km per hour and medium to light rains. 

Rajasthan has been in the grip of severe heatwave in the months of May and June, with temperatures soaring as high as 50 degree Celsius in places like Phalodi.

Although officially there have been only nine heatwave deaths in the state, the actual death toll as collated from various newspaper reports was supposed to be as high as 100. 

Also many dams like Bisalpur, Jawai are almost running dry. Out of a total of 691 big and small dams, at least 526 of them are running dry.

The total capacity of these dams is 12900.82 million cubic metres of water. The water capacity now stands at 4158.22 million cubic metres. So it is imperative that Rajasthan gets a good monsoon this year if it wants to avoid water shortage in the future.