Panaji: Parts of Bardez experienced light rainfall on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, even as rain gauge stations under the India Meteorological Department (IMD) did not record any measurable precipitation.IMD director Nahush Kulkarni attributed the brief showers to a trough extending from south interior Karnataka to Marathwada at about 0.9 km above sea level. “This is a highly localised meteorological phenomenon,” he said.Kulkarni further said that such pre-monsoon showers can occur in isolated pockets without being widespread enough to register at standard monitoring stations. Residents in parts of Bardez reported brief, light showers overnight, while most other areas, including Panaji, remained dry.“If you are in Panaji, you will not feel anything even though the taluka is next to Bardez, where it is raining. This is therefore a very localised pre-monsoon phenomenon that happened in a five-kilometre or even one-kilometre area on a very small scale,” he said.Pre-monsoon activity, though typically associated with the months leading up to the southwest monsoon, can occasionally manifest in short, highly localised bursts due to atmospheric instability and trough formations. IMD issued an “isolated rainfall” warning for Feb 23, indicating the possibility of very limited and scattered precipitation in select areas. However, the IMD forecast largely dry conditions for the coming days.
