June 1-6 rainfall just 1% below mormal: IMD

Rains in southern India 62% above normal during June 1-6

India's southwest monsoon, the lifeline of millions of farmers across the country, has been just one% below normal during the week ended June 6, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement released today.

The country usually receives 19.9 millimeters of rainfall during the first week of the four month southwest monsoon season that starts from June 1. And this year it received 19.6 millimeters of rainfall. In 2012, rainfall during the first week of the season was more than 30% below normal.

The met office said that the rains which entered the country through the Kerala coast on June has been so far 62% above normal in southern peninsular, which comprises of states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh,  3% below normal in central India,  which comprises of states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat and 19% below normal in northwest India, which comprises of states like Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan during the first week (June 1-6), IMD said.

Going forward, IMD said that conditions have been favourable of further advance of southwest monsoon over East and North-East India, south Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, remaining parts of Odisha during the second half of the week that will end on June 14, 2013.

Meanwhile, in related development, Director General of IMD, L S Rathore today said that southwest monsoon will reach the country’s financial capital of Mumbai in the next 48 hours.  India’s southwest monsoon season is crucial for both kharif like rice, soyabean, cotton and maize as almost 60% of the farm land in the country is rain-fed.     

Private weather forecaster, Skymet Weather Services said in its latest weather update today that in Delhi the on and off thunderstorms just like the one witnessed on yesterday will continue for the next two weeks from 10th of June onwards.Frequency of thunderstorms will be high from June 12th June onwards until June 16th, as a Western Disturbance will start affecting the north and northwest plains. Skymet has predicted that the southwest monsoon will reach Delhi around July 8-10.

The country receives almost 70% of its annual precipitation during the four-month season that starts from June and ends in September. This year, the south-west monsoon had touched Andaman Sea and parts of Bay of Bengal on May 17, three days before the normal onset date. Last year, the monsoon had touched the whole country by July 11, four days in advance.     

Ahead of its mid-quarter policy on June 17, RBI today said its monetary actions in the coming months will be determined by the "monsoon outlook". RBI Governor D Subbarao said in Hyderabad, "...Most importantly we also chase monsoon like millions of farmers across the country.