New Delhi: The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday that Southwest Monsoon covered the entire country six days ahead of the expected date after some areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat received their first seasonal rains on Friday, PTI reported.
"Southwest monsoon has covered the entire country on Saturday, six days before the normal date of July 8," IMD said.
In Kerala, Monsoon reached on May 29, three days ahead of the normal of June 1.
But, IMD further noted that there was a recorded deficit of five per cent rainfall on Saturday. The weather department informed that all states, except Rajasthan, have received deficient rainfall so far. The monsoon core zone includes the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, which have agricultural regions depending on rains.
IMD informs that Gujarat received 37 per cent more deficient rains than the long period average (LPA) till July 2, Odisha (-34 per cent), Maharashtra (-25 per cent), Chhattisgarh (-25 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (-15 per cent). But in Rajasthan, rains fell 33 per cent more than the LPA.
For July, IMD forecast on average rainfall for the whole country is 94 per cent to 106 per cent of the LPA for the month, which is about 280.4 mm, based on rainfall data from 1971-2020.
Also, the department forecasts intense rainfall over Odisha, Gujarat, Konkan, and Goa during the next five days over central India on July 4 and 5 and over northwest India on July 5 and 6.
In the meantime, a cyclonic circulation has formed over Bangladesh, and signs have appeared of the formation of a low-pressure area over north Odisha. This might power up monsoon rains in the region as well as locations in central India.