Monsoon 26% less in past week

Rainfall was 26 per cent less than normal during the week that ended on Wednesday, mainly due to a 50 per cent shortage in the southern states.

Overall, till date, the southwest monsoon is six per cent below normal. In the southern peninsula, the shortage is the largest, at 21 per cent less than normal.

The good news is that the south is expected to get more — “subdued rainfall activity during the next 10 days”, with another improvement after August 25, says Indian Metereological Department. Rain activity would also rise over Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and some parts of Maharashtra from the coming Tuesday, and then again from August 25.

In the northern parts, after the current bout of showers, there is a possibility of improvement in rainfall only around the end of this month.

The rather uneven performance in the past week is reflected in levels at the 91 major reservoirs across the country. Data from the Central Water Commission showed those in the western and southern parts were less than in the corresponding period last year; that in central and northern India was below last year’s level.

Overall water levels are 78.36 billion cubic metres, 93 per cent of the storage level of last year and 99 per cent of the average storage in the past 10 years.