Southwest monsoon ends with 12.6% rainfall deficit, driest in 11 years
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The southwest monsoon ended on Wednesday with a 12.6 per cent deficit in rainfall, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, making this year’s monsoon the driest in 11 years and the fourth driest of the century.
The southwest monsoon had set in over Kerala on June 4, marking the beginning of the country’s four-month rainy season. The monsoon arrived three days later than its normal onset date of June 1 and covered the entire country on July 9, a day later than the normal date of July 8.
According to the IMD, the country received 759.4 mm of rainfall during the season, against the long-period average (LPA) of 868.6 mm. The LPA is the mean rainfall recorded during the four-month monsoon season over the past 50 years.
The weather department said monsoon rainfall over northwest India was 94.1 per cent of the LPA, while central India received 97 per cent. The southern Peninsula and the Northeast received 74 per cent of their respective long-period averages.
At 1,017.1 mm, rainfall in eastern and northeastern states was the lowest recorded since 1901. During a press conference, the IMD also noted that average rainfall in the northeastern states has been showing a consistent decline.
The southern Peninsula received 542 mm of rainfall, making it the fourth-lowest since 1901 and the second-lowest since 2001. Central India, meanwhile, received normal rainfall, the weather department said.
Overall, the country received 65 per cent of its long-period average rainfall in June, 101 per cent in July, 84 per cent in August and 92 per cent in September.
The last time monsoon rainfall across the country fell below 90 per cent of the long-period average was in 2015, a year that was also influenced by El Niño conditions.
El Niño is a weather phenomenon marked by the warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific. It typically occurs every few years and has been associated with reduced monsoon rainfall in India.
On August 31, the IMD said strong El Niño conditions were prevailing over the equatorial Pacific Ocean, with sea surface temperatures remaining above normal in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. It had added that the conditions were expected to strengthen further in the coming months.
Amid the rainfall deficit, the Maharashtra government on Saturday declared drought conditions in 74 per cent of the state’s subdistricts.
The IMD on Wednesday forecast that the northeast monsoon would arrive over the southern Peninsula between October 15 and 21. It is expected to bring “normal” rainfall to Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, coastal Andhra Pradesh, the Rayalaseema region, Kerala and south interior Karnataka during the October-December period.
Most other parts of the country, however, are likely to receive below-normal rainfall during this period.