SPATIO-TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF RAINFALL TRENDS IN SHEKHAWATI REGION OF RAJASTHAN

Shekhawati region of Rajasthan lie in a semi-arid zone where livelihoods and water security hinge critically on seasonal rains and temperature regimes. This region covered three districts of the state Churu, Sikar, and Jhunjhunu. Over recent decades, farmers and water managers have reported growing unpredictability in monsoon onset, intensity, and duration, alongside rising thermal stress. Yet region-wide, quantitatively rigorous assessments of how rainfall and temperature have evolved remain limited. This study seeks to fill that gap by leveraging four decades of meteorological observations to characterize spatio-temporal trends and inform locally tailored adaptation measures. This paper presents a detailed spatio-temporal analysis of rainfall and temperature trends in Churu, Sikar, and Jhunjhunu districts from 2001 through 2020. This study analyzes two decades (2001–2020) of meteorological data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to detect and quantify long-term trends in annual and seasonal rainfall across the Shekhawati region.