Monsoon season in India started on a poor note this year, with country witnessing a deficit of 43 per cent for June, the onset month of the monsoon. However, the situation improved in July, reducing the cumulative deficit for the country to 22 per cent. Similar weather conditions were observed in August that ended up with the cumulative deficiency of 17 per cent. Meanwhile in September so far, the first 10 days of the month have witnessed above normal rains, resulting in further dip in deficiency to 11 per cent.
Monsoon in India could be conceived as a complex phenomenon, inherited with a variety of phases ranging from active Monsoon to weak, lull, break and the like. Monsoon experiences a lot of variation and not uniform throughout the season. Some pockets of country has received normal rainfall, some experienced excess and some pockets continue to be in deficit.
India is divided into four meteorological regions--East and Northeast India, Northwest India, Central India and South Peninsula. Even though the country did not witness the sufficient rainfall, some of the sub-divisions of these regions have managed to get the decent rainfall. Following are the four rainiest sub-divisions in each meteorological region that have received the highest rain spell so far.
Uttarakhand: The hilly state that falls in the northwest region of the country has received 847.3 mm of rainfall till now against the normal of 1108.1 mm, resulting in the deficit of 24 per cent. The state has witnessed heavy rainfall, due to which the famous holy pilgrimage of Kedarnath was also suspended for few days. Last year also, the incessant rainfall had created havoc in the region, where thousands of people had died.
Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim: This is one of the smallest meteorological sub-division under the East and Northeast region. The division includes the hilly terrain of Sikkim and the foothills of West Bengal and is known for heavy monsoon showers, even during the break monsoon period. So far, the sub-division has observed 1556.2 mm rainfall against the normal of 1725.9 mm. Thus, the region has received normal rainfall with the cumulative deficit of 10 per cent till now.
Konkan and Goa: The sub-division forms part of the Central India region. The entire Western Ghats are famous for incessant rainfall during the monsoon season, owing to its orographic barriers with the height of mountains varying from 5000 ft to 7000 ft. It has observed 2609.8 mm of rainfall against the normal of 2889.9 mm so far, with the cumulative deficit of 4% indicating towards normal rainfall. This pocket receives rains everyday during the monsoon and it is very rare that this region do not witness any showers.
Coastal Karnataka: Falling in South Peninsula region, this sub-division is the rainiest of all the above. The state of Karnataka is divided into three parts South Interior Karnataka, North Interior Karnataka and Coastal Karnataka. This pocket has observed 2973.5 mm of rainfall against the normal of 2889.9 mm, with the surplus by 3% so far. Some of the regions of this pocket have even experienced monthly normal of four digits, even though it had started with a deficit initially but accounting to the heavy rainfall and ongoing monsoon the pocket recovered soon.
According to Skymet Meteorology Division in India, it is unlikely for Uttarakhand region to cover up the deficit, as the monsoon is set to withdraw during the third week of September. While the other three sub-divisions will continue to observe good rainfall during September and the first half of October.
