Light showers in Pune, subdued rains likely in state

Pune: The city and its surrounding areas will see no major increase in precipitation, with India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting very light to light showers. Pune’s four key dams remain full.Meanwhile, rainfall activity across the state was expected to remain largely subdued this week, though heavy showers were likely in ghats of western Maharashtra.According to IMD forecast for Aug 23-29, Konkan and Goa and Vidarbha would receive fairly widespread to widespread rainfall for most of the week. Vidarbha would see thunderstorms and lightning on Aug 23 and Aug 25, with heavy rain on Aug 24 tapering to isolated showers on Aug 29. Isolated to scattered rain overall — briefly turning widespread on Aug 25 — alongside isolated heavy spells in ghats were expected in Madhya Maharashtra from Aug 23-25. Marathwada was set for light, scattered precipitation with thunderstorms and lightning expected on Aug 23-24.Rain on Sunday varied sharply across the region. Tamini recorded the highest rainfall at 110mm, followed by Shirgaon (80mm), Ambone (73mm) and Dawdi (73mm). Moderate downpour hit Khand (56mm), Lonavala (45mm), upper Vaitarna (45mm), Bhira (44mm) and Nilshi (44mm). Lake catchments logged lighter showers, including Vaitarna (20mm), Bhatsa (19mm), mid Vaitarna (16mm), Tansa (14mm) and Vihar (9mm). Tapering down further, NDA logged 0.5mm, Shivajinagar 0.3mm. Lohegaon, Chinchwad, Lavale, Magarpatta and Koregaon Park recorded no rainfall.Major reservoirs in Bhima basin had robust reserves. The four Khadakwasla cluster dams collectively held 29.15 TMC of usable water at 100% live capacity on Sunday. Varasgaon dam stood full at 12.82 TMC (23mm rain), Panshet dam at 10.65 TMC (27mm rain), Temghar dam at 3.71 TMC (24mm rain) and Khadakwasla dam at 1.97 TMC (8mm rain). Bhama Askhed dam held 7.59 TMC at 99.01% capacity after 4mm of rain.Other key reservoirs reported similar full storage. Pavana dam held 8.51 TMC (100% capacity, 20mm rain), Mulshi dam stood at 19.87 TMC (98.58% capacity, 80mm rain), Andra dam had 2.92 TMC (100% capacity, 11mm rain) and Ujani dam downstream held 53.51 TMC (99.89% capacity, 2mm rain).