Monsoon deficiency at 5% in June, 6% in July but situation not alarming

June and July recorded five and six per cent less rainfall respectively, with Assam and Meghalaya and Lakshadweep also witnessing deficient monsoon, according to the figures compiled by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

At the country-level, June recorded a rainfall of 155.3 mm in comparison to the normal rainfall limit of 163.3 mm, 95 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA).

July received 272.4 mm rainfall while the normal rainfall limit was 289.2 mm, which was 94 per cent of the LPA. On May 30, the IMD had predicted 101 per cent of the LPA for July.

However, this did not mean that the country overall had received deficient rainfall, Sathi Devi, Scientist and Head of the National Weather Forecasting Centre said.

Anywhere between 96-104 per cent of the LPA was considered "normal" rainfall while precipitation between 90-96 per cent of the LPA was "below normal".

Rainfall below 90 per cent was considered "deficient"; 104-110 per cent of the LPA was "above normal" and beyond 110 per cent of the LPA was "excess" monsoon.

The monsoon arrived on June 29, three days ahead of its normal schedule date of June 1.

In June, the sub-divisions of Gujarat, west Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya and Lakshadweep recorded "deficient" monsoon while east Uttar Pradesh and Saurashtra sub-divisions recorded "large deficiency", Devi said.

The sub-divisions of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, west Rajasthan, east Rajasthan recorded "large excess" monsoon while Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, west Madhya Pradesh, Konkan and Goa, south interior Karnataka, Marathwada (Maharashtra) and Telangana recorded "excess" rainfall.

In July, sub-divisions of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Marathwada , north interior Karnataka, sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya, Andaman and Nicobar Island and Lakhadweep sub-divisions recorded "deficient rainfall" while the Rayalseema saw "large deficient" rainfall, she said.

No sub-division recorded "largely excess" rainfall while west Uttar Pradesh and Odisha witnessed "excess" rainfall.

If one takes the overall monsoon received by the country from June 1 to July 31, more than 83 per cent of the nation recorded normal rainfall.

With some good rainfall in the east region of the country over the last week, the monsoon deficiency dropped to minus 27 per cent, the highest in the country.