According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, torrential rain occurred in many parts of Sub Himalayan West Bengal and Northeastern states in the last 24 hours. Monsoon performance will continue to be at its best in these states as more heavy rain is likely throughout this week.
Our list of top ten rainiest cities therefore includes cities from these states only. The table clearly shows West Bengal remained the wettest state on Sunday:
| Cities | State | Rainfall (in millimetres) |
| Bagdogra | West Bengal | 253 |
| Cherrapunji | Meghalaya | 174 |
| Panagarh | West Bengal | 121 |
| Darjeeling | West Bengal | 104 |
| Kalingpong | West Bengal | 54 |
| Digha | West Bengal | 53 |
| Behrampur | West Bengal | 42 |
| Kolkata | West Bengal | 41 |
| Guwahati | Assam | 41 |
| Malda | West Bengal | 39 |
Photo by trekearth
June is over and Mumbai has hardly witnessed any rain. It is one of the driest Junes that the city has experienced in last ten years. According to the data available with Skymet Meteorology Division in India, the city has observed an abysmal 88 mm of rain in the entire month of June (till 29th) against the monthly average of 523 mm. The lowest amount of rain that the city has received in the month of June in the last one decade is 216 mm, observed in drought year of 2009.
This clearly indicates how weak Monsoon in Mumbai has been so far and the prospects of it improving in July and covering the deficit does not look any better. The number of rainy days in June in Mumbai is 16 while Mumbaikars have observed only 6 days of rain. The temperatures have also been impacted due to less Monsoon rain. The maximums in the city have frequently been recording around 34°C, 2-3 degrees above the normal average of 32°C. Day temperatures have also touched 38°C on occasions. Minimums that usually drop to settle in the lower twenties have been recording around 26°C.
Meanwhile, the start of July also does not look promising as there is not much rain expected during the first five days. With 800 mm of rain, July is the rainiest month for the city. There are about 23 rainy days during the month and maximums settle around 30°C. Minimums too settle in the lower twenties.
According to our predictions, heavy to very heavy rain of over 100 mm was observed in many parts of West Bengal (particularly Sub Himalayan West Bengal) and northeastern states of Sikkim and Meghalaya in the last 24 hours. Moderate to heavy Monsoon rain also occurred in Assam, which is likely to worsen the flood situation in the state.
According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, the above mentioned states would witness wet weather during the entire week. However, torrential rain is likely to occur during the next three days.
Heavy rain has been occurring in Sub Himlayan West Bengal and Northeastern states from Friday onwards, with 189 mm of rain at Malda and 132 mm at Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh. On Saturday too, in a span of 24 hours Pasighat recorded heavy rain of over 144 mm.
However, on Sunday Sub Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim and Meghalaya observed maximum amounts of rain. Bagdogra in West Bengal recorded the highest rainfall in the country of 253 mm, whereas Panagarh in northern Bengal recorded 121 mm of rain.
Rain in Cherrapunji was a whopping 174 mm and in Darjeeling it was 104 mm. Guwahati which is already dealing with flood also received good showers of 41 mm.
Assam is witnessing major waterlogging as the Brahmaputra River is flowing above the danger level in several parts of Dibrugarh and Guwahati. Heavy rains have further added to the misery. So far 11 people have died and more than 2,000 affected due to floods in the state.
On Thursday, 26th June, residents waded through waist- and knee-deep water in several parts of the Assam state capital, Guwahati, which was hit by nearly 60 millimeters (2.3 inches) of pounding rain at night. The average four-month Monsoon rainfall is 89 centimeters (35 inches).
Weathermen at Skymet say that these rains are caused by a strong Monsoon, while many other parts of the country are experiencing a 30 to 40 percent rainfall deficit in June.
“Amid a dry June, Monsoon performance has been the best in Sub Himalayan West Bengal and Northeastern states. While the former has had excess rainfall by over 14%, the latter is facing a rain deficit of only 19%. And with more rain expected this week the deficit may soon narrow down completely”, says G.P Sharma, AVM (Retd).
Owing to Monsoon rain, the weather in Northeast India is expected to turn even cooler as the minimum temperature is likely to drop by two notches. Maximums too will drop by a degree or two. Currently the maximum is seen settling in the range of 30⁰C to 34⁰C and the minimum is hovering in the lower twenties.
A slow Monsoon progress delayed the arrival of Southwest Monsoon in Delhi and North India, making the month of June one of the driest in a decade in the country. But July has some good news in store, according to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, Monsoon is expected to reach Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and west Uttar Pradesh by the end of this week.
Lack of winds and high humidity of over 80% led to moisture accumulation, bringing a spell of moderate showers in many pockets of Delhi around 10 pm on Sunday night.
Delhiites woke up to a cloudy morning on Monday too. Rain helped in pulling down the morning temperature on Monday by about five degrees. A minimum of 25.2⁰C was recorded as opposed to 30⁰C on Sunday morning. Rainfall in Delhi from 10 pm on Sunday to 8:00 am on Monday was recorded to be 5 mm at the Safdarjung Observatory and 1 mm at the Palam station.
As for today and tomorrow, weathermen tell us that the weather in Delhi and northern plains will continue to be partly cloudy to cloudy with frequent spells of rain early in the morning and late evening.
Maximum temperature may not drop much and settle between 38⁰C and 39⁰C, while minimum on Tuesday may sustain around 25⁰C.
Other than Delhi, rain was also recorded in many parts of Punjab on Monday morning. Amritsar and Patiala in the state recorded 8 mm and 9 mm of rain respectively.
“We explained on Sunday that a trough extending along the foothills of Himalayas is leading to this rainy weather. It is due to the same reason that places like Bareilly (17 mm), Gorakhpur (11 mm), Patna (5mm) and Gaya (19 mm) also received good showers in the last 12 hours”, says meteorologist Mahesh Palawat.
“Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar may continue to get rain during 24 hours. Rain in Delhi and Punjab could pick up from 5th July, which is when we are expecting Monsoon to make an entry”, said AVM (Retd) G.P Sharma.
The month of June has been very gloomy for the country in terms of Monsoon rain. The cumulative deficit, which till a few days back was 40%, has now mounted to 43% on Sunday (29th June).
The uncanny behavior of the Monsoon - being confined largely to Northeast India and West Bengal – is one of the reasons behind the cumulative deficit of Monsoon in India.
Monsoon made a sluggish start due to which the overall deficit till the middle of June stood at 45%. Thereafter, some good showers in the Northeast and West Bengal reduced the deficit to about 36% by the third week of June. But it again started to mount due to lack of rain in other parts of the country.
The current deficit of 43% is very large and is being observed after a long gap. Even in the worst drought year of 2009, the deficit was 47%, which speaks volumes about how the month of June has been this year in terms of Monsoon rain and what impact it is going to have on our economy.
Subdivision Deficit
In central parts of the country that include Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and west Uttar Pradesh, the deficit is 60-80%. Out of the 36 meteorological subdivisions in the country 31 are deficit or scanty. Even 5 of them - Assam & Meghalaya, Sub Himalayan West Bengal, Rayalaseema, Tamil Nadu & Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands – that are considered normal are facing a deficit of 10-15%, except for Sub Himalayan West Bengal, which is 14% excess.
July forecast
Though, there has been reports of Monsoon rain picking up in July, Skymet Meteorology Division in India differs from it as rain starved areas of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh do not look to experience significant rain during the first ten days of July.
And if there is no good rain in the country from 10th to 20th July then we are in for some big trouble as Monsoon will not be able to cover the average rainfall of 29 cm observed during this month.
