Monsoon within normal range: Met Dept

A late spurt in rainfall activity has brought southwest monsoon within normal range with the country as a whole receiving just one per cent deficient rainfall.

The overall deficient rainfall in the country was recorded as one per cent as against last week's two per cent.

While the country as a whole has received 864.2 mm of rainfall this monsoon season, northwest India recorded 651.2 mm, central India (955.9), south peninsula (690.2mm) and northeast India (1295.3 mm), the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a special update.

Out of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions, two of them received deficient rainfall in the week ending Thursday.

Compared to last week, the rainfall over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, and West Madhya Pradesh has slightly improved, while these regions continued to receive deficient rains in this season, it said.

A depression formed over north Orissa caused widespread and fairly widespread rainfall along its track. Parts of northwest India also received good rainfall due to interaction of this system with the mid-troposphere westerly trough.

The special update also said that under the influence of another feeble low pressure area over north Bay of Bengal, scattered to fairly widespread rainfall occurred over Orissa, West Bengal, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura during the second half of the week.

The IMD also forecast widespread rainfall over West Bengal and Sikkim and northeastern states during the first half of the next week.

The southwest monsoon is likely to withdraw from parts of northwest India, the special update said.