With the monsoon withdrawing from most regions in the country, India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said the cumulative seasonal rainfall during June 1 to September 30 was near normal, recording 98 per cent of its long period average (LPA).

“The cumulative seasonal rainfall for the country as a whole was near normal. Rainfall for the season was 98 per cent of its LPA,” said Director General of IMD Ajit Tyagi.

Given that the June-September rains irrigate over 60 per cent of cultivable land every year in the country, the near normal rains this year will maintain the desired moisture content in the soil that would contribute to a good Rabi crop in winter.

“Monsoon rains have been very good and it has obviously improved the moisture content. Rains have recharged groundwater,” said Tyagi.

IMD records on the distribution of rainfall during the monsoon observed that while the spatial distribution was largely uniform with 30 meteorological subdivisions recording normal rainfall, Punjab and Orissa subdivisions recorded excess rainfall. However, the subdivisions of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura, West Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Kerala recorded deficient rainfall.

Apart from the spatial variation, the monsoon rainfall was marked by large temporal variation. While the rainfall was 27 per cent above LPA in June, July recorded 17 per cent less rainfall than the LPA. Otherwise, IMD said the rainfall was near normal during August and September with departure from LPA of -3 per cent and -1 per cent, respectively.

While IMD would claim credit for the actual rainfall within its predicted figures, its forecasts in northwest India was not accurate.

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