City gets season's first shower

VADODARA: A sharp shower drenched several parts of the city when Barodians were enjoying their Sunday siesta, bringing them much-awaited relief from the heat.
After days of cloudy weather and slight drizzles, the showers raised the hopes of a good monsoon ahead. With the rains arriving on the auspicious day of Aashadh sud bij, the young and the old alike hit the terraces to enjoy the shower and the cool breeze.The pleasant smell of the wet soil filled the air on the day when citizens celebrated rath yatra festivities.
"The monsoon has already got delayed but we have witnessed the first proper showers on the day of rath yatra. Hopefully, the monsoon will make a good beginning now," Siddharth Saiyan, a resident of Gotri, said.
The monsoon has continued playing truant this year. The city skies cleared by evening making the citizens wonder whether they will witness proper rains now or not. On Sunday, there were some pockets which were left untouched by the rains.
Although the showers did not last long, puddles were formed on the roads even in posh areas such as Alkapuri.
Weather officials said the weather will mainly remain dry over north Gujarat region. A few areas in south Gujarat and in Saurashtra-Kutch have received rainfall since Friday. The meteorological department was not expecting any good rainfall till Wednesday.
The state is divided into two regions that is Gujarat and Saurashtra-Kutch region. According to IMD officials, Gujarat region includes Ahmedabad, central, north and south Gujarat. On an average, this region receives 184.7mm of rainfall as on July 3. But this region has only received 17.4mm of rainfall. Similarly, Saurashtra-Kutch on an average receives 99.2mm of rainfall against which the region has only received 24.7mm of rainfall so far.
"For the past couple of years, not much systems have formed over the Bay of Bengal which bring good rains in the state. Saurashtra and Kutch, which experience less annual rain, meet their targets because of the one or two systems that are formed over the Arabian sea. But Gujarat region, which depends mainly on the system in Bay of Bengal, has been getting less rains," the officials said.
IMD stated that Valsad, Mangrol have received 2mm of rain, while Sagbara, Nanipalsan, Chikhli, Gandevi, Navsari, Daman, Madhuban, Olpad received only 1mm of rainfall in the past 48 hours.