Monsoon lagging after first month, deficit will only get worse, cautions met office
Rainfall in the first month of monsoon was below the mark, with the country recording a deficit of about five per cent as of June 30, according to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Saurashtra and Kutch in Gujarat, east Uttar Pradesh and west UP were worst hit, reporting a deficit of 86%, 59% and 48% respectively as of July 1.
The overall deficit is likely to widen further in coming days, meteorologists said, as heavy rain remains concentrated along the Himalayan foothills. Delhi and neighbouring areas could see isolated showers (1-25%) on Tuesday which will peter out in the second half of the week.
“After June 12 there was a long hiatus, only around June 25 did the monsoon advance,” DS Pai, senior scientist at IMD, Pune, said. The pause in advance of the monsoon that delayed rains in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Usually mid-tropospheric cyclonic circulations and low pressure systems from the Bay of Bengal bring precipitation to
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Gujarat even before the monsoons arrive, but this year that has not happened in Gujarat.
In its monsoon forecast IMD had forecast rainfall in the fourmonth period from June to September to be 97% of the long-period average with a low probability of deficient rainfall.
According to the Met’s classification, the monsoon is considered normal if the rains are between 96-104% of the 50-year average of 89 cm. Rainfall (% of Long Period Average) As of July 1, 2018
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