MC Daily Monsoon Tracker: Rainfall surplus continues for eighteenth consecutive day for India

Rainfall surplus continues for eighteenth day

India continued to witness a rainfall surplus for the eighteenth day in a row, as the country received 7 percent higher rainfall than normal on August 9, according to data released by India Meteorological Department.

While nearly half of the country’s 36 states and union territories received normal rainfall as of August 9, a quarter faced deficient rainfall conditions, and another quarter faced excess rainfall conditions.

Of the deficient states, one (Bihar) belonged to the eastern region, whereas the other three were in Northeast India. Bihar has had a rainfall deficit of 24 percent.

In northwest parts of the country, five states/UTs faced deficient rainfall, with Chandigarh having a 54 percent deficit, followed by Punjab at 43 percent, Jammu and Kashmir at 34 percent and Himachal Pradesh and Haryana at 26 percent each.

Data released on August 8 showed that India’s reservoir situation improved further with the country having reservoir levels 21 percent more than normal storage compared with 7 percent in the previous week.

The northern part of the country and states like West Bengal in the eastern region continued to witness below-normal reservoir storage, which has impacted sowing.

Sowing levels slightly improved at 2.9 percent higher from 2023 as on August 2, compared with 2.3 percent in the previous week, as rainfall situation improved.

The pickup in sowing can be attributed to a rise in paddy acreage to 5.3 percent as of August 2. Pulses area under cultivation was 10.9 percent higher compared with the previous week.

But levels remain subdued compared to normal, as rainfall distribution has been uneven.