NEW DELHI, 2 Jul: The southwest monsoon on Sunday covered the entire country six days before the normal date, as it advanced in the remaining parts of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
On Friday, the IMD had said that the monsoon was expected to be normal in July across the country, barring parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh and south Bihar.
The weather office said that the monsoon covered the entire country on Sunday, against the normal date of 8 July.
As many as 16 states and union territories received deficient rainfall in June, with Bihar and Kerala reporting large deficits at 69 percent and 60 percent below normal, respectively.
Some other states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana also received less rainfall than what is normal for June, the first month of the southwest monsoon season.
“The monthly rainfall averaged over the country as a whole during July 2023 is most likely to be normal (94 to 106 percent of LPA) and most probably within the positive side of the normal,” IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra had said on Friday.
The long period average (LPA) of rainfall over the country during July, based on the data of 1971-2020, is about 280.4 mm.
The phenomena of warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, called the El Nino conditions, are expected to develop in July. El Nino is known to suppress monsoon rainfall.
Mohapatra said that, during most of the recent El Nino years, June rainfall has been within the normal range. “In 16 of the 25 years when June rainfall was below normal, July rainfall has been reported normal,” he had said.
He said that 377 weather stations across the country reported heavy rainfall events – 115.6 mm-204.5 mm per day – in June, while 62 stations reported extremely heavy rains, amounting to more than 204.5 mm.
Mohapatra had said that the March-June summer season saw heatwave conditions across 281 meteorological subdivision days (MSD), the third highest after 578 MSDs in 2010 and 455 MSDs in 2022. If one meteorological subdivision reports heat wave conditions, it is considered as one MSD.
The weather office said that during July, normal to above normal maximum temperatures are likely over most parts of the country, except some areas of northwest and peninsular India.
It said that normal to above normal minimum temperatures are likely over most parts of the country except some areas of northwest India. (PTI)