Monsoon 11% less till now
The progress of southwest (SW) monsoon in the country has not been encouraging in the first three weeks of June with the rainfall being 11 per cent less than the normal so far. However, there is hope that the situation will improve from Friday with a low pressure formation in the Bay of Bengal.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department, the monsoon rain for the period from June 1 to 23 throughout the country has been 97.4 mm, against a long period average (LPA) of 109.6 mm.
IMD officials said that after hitting the coast of Kerala two days ahead of the normal date (June 1), the advance of monsoon has been more or less stagnant largely on account of cyclone “Phet” that hit parts of Gujarat and then moved away towards Pakistan.
In the week ending June 18, the overall shortfall was 21 per cent. So far, heavy rainfall activity has been witnessed only in coastal areas of Kerala, Maharashtra and the north-eastern states. There has virtually been no rain activity in central, eastern and north-western regions of the country. Some cyclonic developments in certain regions of Bihar too has contributed to the slowing down of monsoon.
However, the situation may change over the next week with evidence of a low pressure area forming over Bay of Bengal, which are likely to force the monsoon winds move further into the hinterlands and move towards the northern regions of the country. In the next few days, rainfall is likely to increase in the regions which have so far been witnessing high levels of heat and humidity.
“Conditions are becoming favourable for further advance of SW monsoon into parts of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and some parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh within the next three to four days,” said an IMD official. The Indian Meteorological Department had earlier forecast a near normal monsoon this year, which follows a year of severe drought.
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