Analysis of intra-seasonal rainfall variability, number of rainy days and extreme rainfall events at different locations of Punjab Chand Shivani, Dhaliwal L K* Department of Climate Change and Agricultural Meteorology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, Punjab *Corresponding author: dhaliwal1969@pau.edu
Online published on 16 September, 2020. Abstract Dependence of Indian agriculture on monsoon rainfall is well known as most parts of India receive annual rainfall from the southwest monsoon during June-September. Rainfall variability - annual, inter seasonal, intra seasonal and monthly - plays an important role in crop productivity. Historical data of rainfall for different locations of Punjab viz. Ballowal Saunkhri (1984–2018), Bathinda (2001–2018) and Ludhiana (1971–2018) were collected from the Department of Climate Change and Agricultural Meteorology, PAU, Ludhiana and analyzed. The intra season rainfall variability between different seasons (pre monsoon, monsoon and post monsoon) was highest during post monsoon season followed by pre monsoon season. The month of November showed the highest rainfall variability among all the months at all the locations whereas the least variability was observed in the month of July at all the locations except at Ballowal Saunkhri where variability was least in the month of August. Number of rainy days was highest during 1991–2000 at Ballowal Saunkhri and Ludhiana. The highest number of rainy days at Bathinda was during 1971–80.The heavy rainfall events occurred more frequently compared to very heavy and extremely heavy rainfall events at different locations. Top Keywords Extreme events, Intra seasonal, Rainfall, Variability. Top |