The southwest monsoon has covered the entire country six days early on Sunday before the normal date, said the India Meteorological Department. The monsoon covered the entire country on Sunday as it advanced in the remaining parts of Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana. The monsoon has been expected to remain normal in July across the country except in parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh and south Bihar, the weather department said on Friday. The monsoon covered the entire country on Sunday, against the normal date of July 8, the IMD said, according to a PTI report.
The rainfall remained deficient in as many as 16 states and Union territories in the country in June with Bihar and Kerala reporting large deficits at 69 per cent and 60 per cent below normal, respectively, as per the report.
Some other states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana also received less rainfall than what is normal for June, the first month of the southwest monsoon season.
"The monthly rainfall averaged over the country as a whole during July 2023 is most likely to be normal (94 to 106 per cent of LPA) and most probably within the positive side of the normal," IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra had said on Friday.
In July, India recorded the long period average (LPA) of rainfall at about 280.4 millimetres based on the data of 1971-2020.
El Nino conditions, the phenomenon of warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean and known to suppress monsoon, are expected to develop in July, as per the report.
Mohapatra said during most of the recent El Nino years, June rainfall has been within the normal range. "In 16 of the 25 years when June rainfall was below normal, July rainfall has been reported normal," he had said, according to the report.