New Delhi: India recorded 6% excess rainfall in the week to Wednesday and most regions, except the southern peninsula, will receive normal to above-normal rains in the coming week, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday.
North-west and central India received 26% and 20% rains respectively above the long-period average (LPA), the IMD said. The southern peninsula too witnessed above-normal rainfall of 1%. However, east and north-east India saw a deficit of around 42%. Heavy to very heavy rainfall occurred over isolated places of Madhya Maharashtra during the second half of last week.
For the country as a whole, cumulative rainfall till Thursday is 2% excess of its LPA.
North-west, west, central and east India will receive normal to above-normal rainfall till 14 August, IMD said. North-east India will receive above-normal rainfall during 5-9 August, while the southern peninsula will be deficit in the next two weeks.
“At present, Odisha is witnessing rain deficiency of 16%, followed by Jharkhand at 19%, Gangetic West Bengal 6% and Chhattisgarh 3%. However, with the fresh spell of rain in offing, we expect all these states to cover up the deficiency,” private weather forecaster Skymet said on its website.
Since the monsoon season started in June, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Gujarat, Saurastra, Kutch and Diu, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura have received deficient rainfall.
“Although there are some states facing rain deficit, none of the crops are starving as most of these regions have received adequate rainfall for the crops. A low pressure in the Bay of Bengal will lead to more rainfall in east India in August, which will be good for the crops,” said N. Chattopadhyay, deputy director general of the agricultural meteorology division at IMD, Pune.
So far, 85% of the country’s area has recorded normal and excess rainfall, while 15% of the area has received deficient rainfall. Bihar, Assam and Gujarat have struggled with floods.