Monsoon in India began on a very poor note with the cumulative rain deficit in June being 43%. In fact the deficit maintained levels till the 12th of July after which some good rain pulled it down to 22%. August was the best month in terms of rain across the country and the deficit plummeted to 9.3% during the month.
August received 236.8 mm of rain against the monthly average of 261 mm. There were 9 days of above normal rain, while 22 days the rainfall was below normal.
There was some good rain observed in most parts of the country during August, except for the plains of North India. Punjab was scanty at 65%, while Haryana and Chandigarh was 66% scanty. The overall deficit in the plains of North India has also increased.
Maharashtra saw some good improvement during this month. The deficit of 58% in the Marathwada sub-division came down to 39%. Madhya Maharashtra saw a rapid recovery from 21% to 4% and is now inching towards normal. Vidarbha is still deficit by 25%.
Northeast India also saw some improvement during this month. Assam is normal with a rain deficiency of 16%, while Arunachal Pradesh is normal with 4% surplus rain. However, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura (NMMT) is still deficit by 37%.
South India made a decent recovery with sub-divisions like North Interior Karnataka and South Interior Karnataka wiping out the deficit. While North Interior Karnataka became normal with surplus rain of 9%, South Interior Karnataka is excess by 22%.
However, the national cumulative rain deficit from 1st June till date stands at 17%. It is to be noted that the average monthly rainfall in September for the country is a paltry 173 mm; therefore forecast of good rain in the first week of September will not be able to wipe out any substantial deficit.
