Southwest monsoon withdraws- records highest rainfall in 4 yrs
Southwest monsoon withdraws- records highest rainfall in 4 yrs
The IMD on Tuesday stated that the southwest monsoon has completely withdrawn from the country and the northeast monsoon has begun over southeast peninsular India.
This year, the southwest monsoon reached Kerala on May 30 and covered the entire country by July 2. It began its retreat from northwest India on September 23.
The country recorded 934.8 mm of rainfall compared to the normal of 868.6 mm — the highest since 2020 — in the monsoon season this year.
As per the weather department, Intense low-pressure systems, particularly in August and September, resulted in 8 percent more rainfall than usual in India amidst the 2024 monsoon season.
However, the rainfall was 2 percent higher than normal in June and July, while August and September saw 12 per cent above normal rains.
The IMD also stated that India did not experience any “break monsoon” conditions this year because of the large number of low-pressure systems.
Regionally, central India received 19.5 percent more rain than usual, peninsular India saw 14 per cent more rain and northwest India recorded 7 per cent above-normal rain. However, eastern and northeastern India got 14 percent less rain than expected.
The rainfall in June was 11 percent below normal, but July saw 9 percent more rain, August had 15.3 percent extra and September recorded 11.6 per cent more-than-normal rainfall.
In 2023, India recorded 820 mm of rainfall, which was 94.4 percent of the long-period average.
The IMD had predicted above-normal rainfall (106 percent of the LPA) for the 2024 monsoon season.
It had also accurately forecast below-normal rainfall for northeast India, normal rainfall for northwest India and above-normal rainfall for the central and southern regions.
News Edit KV Raman
