Kashi's monsoon fills its full-season quota with a fortnight to spare: 577 mm in 55 days

Varanasi's monsoon has already delivered everything the season was supposed to bring, and it has done it well ahead of the calendar. The city's rainfall total has reached 577.2 mm, which is the full quota the met department expects across a normal 70-day monsoon. Kashi got there in 55 days. What makes the number striking is how late the season started. The monsoon usually reaches Varanasi by about 20 June; this year it arrived on 1 July, more than a week behind schedule. The catching up then happened in a rush, with Monday alone bringing roughly 160 mm, followed by a much lighter 17.6 mm the next day. Dr Atul Kumar Singh, senior meteorologist at the UP regional meteorological centre, told Amar Ujala that the monsoon trough line is currently running over Kashi, which explains the run of heavy showers, and that thunderstorms with rain can be expected for about another day. He added a caveat worth remembering: rain that falls this hard tends to run off rather than soak in, so a full quota on paper does not automatically mean a fully recharged water table underneath. For anyone planning the next couple of days around the city — Raksha Bandhan errands, a walk down to the ghats, the closing stretch of Sawan — the practical reading is simple enough. Carry an umbrella, allow a little extra time on the road, and expect passing wet spells rather than a washed-out day.

Compiled by HelloBanaras from public sources: Amar Ujala — Varanasi