IMD predicts ‘above normal’ rainfall during southwest monsoon season

India is likely to receive above-normal rainfall during the southwest monsoon season this year, the India Meteorological Department said on Tuesday.

The weather agency said that the country is expected to get 106% of the long period average rainfall, which refers to the mean rainfall during the four-month monsoon season over the last 50 years. The season generally begins in June and starts to retreat by September.

The long-period average of seasonal rainfall across the country, for the period between 1971 and 2020, is 87 cm.

Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, the department’s director general, released the second-stage long range forecast on Tuesday, revising the agency’s earlier prediction.

In April, the weather agency had forecast that India was likely to receive 105% of the long period average rainfall during the southwest monsoon season.

As per the revised prediction, the monsoon core zone is likely to receive above-normal rainfall (more than 106% of the long period average) this season, PTI quoted M Ravichandran, secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences, as having said at a press conference.

The core zone includes parts of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and nearby areas, which are heavily dependent on monsoon rain for agriculture.

Above-normal rainfall is expected across most parts of the country, except in Ladakh, adjoining areas of Himachal Pradesh, the northeastern states and parts of Bihar, Jharkhand,...

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