Daily Times

KARACHI: Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has predicted ‘more than normal rains’ in Thar Desert during the ongoing monsoon rain. Such rains would end a four-year drought in the parched area. In this connection, a weather system developing in India is likely to enter in parts of Thar Desert from tonight (Tuesday), officials at PMD said. The first spell of monsoon rains hit Tharparkar district at the end of last month.
“A three-day system is likely to enter into Pakistan tonight. It is expected that parts of Tharparkar and Umerkot districts would receive moderate rains,” said Abdul Rashid, Director Regional Meteorological Centre Karachi while talking to Daily Times. The system would further move towards Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad and Karachi, he added. PMD has predicted more than four spells of rains in Tharparkar area during the current monsoon, resulting in the end of drought. According to Danesh Kumar, in charge at PMD Observatory Mithi, district Tharparkar receives around 400 mm average rainfall during the monsoon rains, but this year it is expected that the area may receive 5-10% more rains. “I foresee 500-600 mm rainfall during this monsoon,” he added.
On the other hand, locals traditionally say it is considered a good monsoon season in Tharparkar, if rains occur four times within the gap of 20-25 days. “During July to September, Tharparkar requires four rains within the gap of twenty-five days,” said Bharumal Amrani, a local environmentalist. “Sometimes, we also see pre monsoon rains that start after mid-June which we witnessed this year when rains started on June 24,” Amrani added. However Armani stressed beneficial rains also depended on two factors: the presence of sunlight and moderate winds. Last year, although there were moderate rains, these could be beneficial for crops in the area, as weather remained cloudy for the most part, he added.