Srinagar, Aug 3: Srinagar recorded the highest rainfall for the months of June and July in 122 years with the city receiving 107 per cent more precipitation than average, a private weather forecaster said on Wednesday.
“It was the wettest 61-day period in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, since at least 1901,” Faizan Arif, who operates ‘Kashmir Weather’ on Twitter, said.
He said the observatory located at Ram Munshi Bagh in Srinagar recorded a total rainfall of 230.0 mm in the first two monsoon months against an average rainfall of 110.9 mm, which is 107 per cent above average.
“In the first monsoon month, June, the summer capital recorded a total rainfall of 107.9 mm against an average rainfall of 42.0 mm. In July, the city recorded a total rainfall of 122.1 mm against an average rainfall of 68.9 mm,” Arif said.
The highest total rainfall in the month of June is 142.1 mm recorded in 1996, while in July it is 182.6mm recorded in 1988, he said.
In 2015, the city had received a total rainfall of 226.8 mm, between Jun 1 and Jul 31, of which 139.3 mm fell in July and 87.5mm in June, he said.
“So far, Jammu and Kashmir has seen 28 per cent excess rainfall in the first two months of the southwest monsoon season. Budgam recorded highest excess rainfall of 147 per cent. The lowest came from Shopian district with 35 per cent deficient rainfall,” Arif said.
Of 20 districts in the union territory, seven have recorded large excess rainfall, six excess rainfall, five normal rainfall and two deficient rainfall, he said.