Rain returns, the river stays low: what Kashi's weather looks like this Sawan week

The monsoon's quiet spell over Kashi is breaking. Weather officials in Varanasi said the system, which had gone weak through the end of July, was set to pick up again in the first week of August, with good rain likely across eastern Uttar Pradesh around 4 August. The India Meteorological Department has since flagged heavy to very heavy rainfall over several states, Uttar Pradesh among them, across the coming five days. On 1 August the city sat at a maximum of 34°C with humidity at 57 per cent and only a 5 km/h breeze — exactly the kind of close, sticky afternoon that a good shower clears in an hour. There is reassuring news from the river as well. The Central Water Commission recorded the Ganga at 61.92 metres — comfortably under the 70.262-metre warning level and the 71.262-metre danger mark. For scale, the highest flood level ever recorded in Varanasi was 73.901 metres, back on 9 September 1978. The current, though, is running strong, so small boats are being kept off the water for now and there is extra watch at the ghats, with boatmen asked to stay alert. If a sunrise ride is on your list, ask your boatman on the morning itself rather than assuming. For everyone else, this is the good half of Sawan weather: cooler evenings, washed lanes, and the ghats at their greenest. Carry an umbrella to the evening aarti.

Compiled by HelloBanaras from public sources: KTV Varanasi · KTV Varanasi — IMD alert