The month of January 2024 was recorded as the driest since 2018. Pan India rainfall deficiency of a huge 58% was recorded during this period. The deficit had earlier touched 61% on 29th January. Courtesy, decent showers over North India plains and snow over the hills in the last 2 days of the month, marginal improvement lowered the overall deficit to 58%. Despite the large shortfall, the South Peninsula was an outlier with surplus rainfall, especially for southern meteorological sub-divisions like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.
Northwest India was the worst sufferer with an overall 91% shortfall for the region. Plains and mountains, both shared the misery, equally. Conspicuously, there was no snowfall across the hilly states of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand. More so, the lower ranges and tourist resorts remained barren, giving droughty looks, during the otherwise rainiest month of the winter season. Jammu & Kashmir and Parts of Himachal Pradesh received conciliatory rain and snow on the last 2 days of the month.
The absence of active western disturbances and their auxiliary support systems in the plains remained completely amiss. Reversal seems to be on the cards now. There has been a decent dump of snow across the mountain ranges at the start of February. These conditions will sustain for the rest of the week and mildly at the start of next week. Thereafter, a week-long break is expected over the northern parts. These dry weather conditions over the north are likely to be compensated partially, with some unseasonal rains coming up over the central and some eastern parts in the following week, after 10th February.
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