Why Pune, 60 km from Ghats, gets far less rainfall

Imagine rain clouds as a wet sponge carried by the wind.

When the wind blows from the sea, it reaches the tall Western Ghats mountains first.

The mountains push the air upward, where it cools and the clouds drop their rain.

That is why Tamhini, a mountain town, gets about 7,000 mm of rain every year — one of the wettest places in the country.

By the time the wind travels about 60 km to Pune, the sponge is squeezed nearly dry.

So Pune gets only about 720 to 1,000 mm of rain a year, spread over 49 rainy days.

In early August, the weather office warned of heavy rain in the mountains.

And right on cue, Tamhini got 102 mm of rain in 24 hours while Pune got just 2.4 mm.

So the mountains act like a giant umbrella, shielding Pune from the heaviest rain even though it is close by.