India logs 8% more rain than normal in monsoon 2024, highest since 2020

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The 2024 southwest monsoon season officially ended on September 30, with India recording 934.8 mm rainfall, 108 percent of the long-period average and the highest since 2020, according to India Meteorological Department data.

Central India received 19 percent more rainfall than the long-period average for the region, the southern peninsula recorded 14 percent more than normal, and northwest India saw 7 percent more than usual.

East and northeast India registered 14 percent less rainfall than normal, the data showed.

The country experienced a rainfall deficit of 11 percent in June, followed by an excess of 9 percent in July, 15.7 percent in August, and 10.6 percent in September.

In the 2023 monsoon season, India had recorded 820 mm rainfall, which was 94.4 percent of the long-period average of 868.6 mm.

The country logged 925 mm of rainfall, 106 percent of the long-period average, in 2022; 870 mm in 2021; and 958 mm in 2020.

The IMD had predicted above-normal rainfall (106 percent of the long-period average) for the monsoon season this year.

It also accurately forecast below-normal monsoon rainfall for northeast India, normal rainfall for the northwest, and above-normal rainfall for central and southern peninsular regions.

The monsoon is critical for India's agricultural sector, with 52 percent of the net cultivated area dependent on it. This primary rain-bearing system is also essential for replenishing reservoirs that provide drinking water and support power generation across the country.