Four days of rain pushes season surplus to 7.3%

Panaji: Four days of long and copious spells of rain after a week-long sluggish monsoon activity yielded 332.2mm of rainfall, though it caused a lot of damage to property and agriculture.On Monday, the rain boosted the overall total, which touched 2865mm as compared to the normal of 2671.2mm – a modest surplus of 7.3%.During the previous six days from Aug 21 to 26, the rainfall had been light and just 60.6mm was recorded in 24-hour phases. The highest was 23.8mm recorded on June 21. During the last four days, 159.9mm recorded till morning of Aug 28 was the highest of the month so far.The previous heavy spell for four days between Aug 18 to 21 had accumulated 270+mm to the total in a month that saw erratic monsoon activity during the first fortnight.The highest during these four days was 105mm on Aug 18.In June, there were more sunny days than rain, and heavy spells made up for the monthly average.As per the long-term forecast, India Meteorological Department has stated that the monsoon is likely to be normal this year. Goa has already crossed the 100-inch mark and is heading towards a normal season with a month to go.