The four month old monsoon season has officially ended on 30thSeptember 2024. Of course the seasonal rains continue over northeast and eastern parts of the country. Monsoon withdrawal has commenced and likely to retreat from large parts of northern plains in the next 2-3 days. National capital also likely to see withdrawal anytime during this week. The complete process takes about 30 days and withdrawal from country gets complete by 15thOctober.
Monsoon 2024 has ended ‘above normal’ and recorded 107.3% rainfall of long period average (LPA). The season has amassed 932mm of rainfall against the LPA of 868.6mm. As per the national weather agency, the respective rainfall in each month remained above normal, except in June when it was deficit by 11%.
The real time data shows the season ending above normal with 107.6% rainfall of LPA. The corrected date lowers the seasonal rainfall slightly to 107.3%, still remaining above normal. This also is the highest seasonal rainfall since 2020. Monsoon 2024 also was one of the very few exclusive year when season finished above normal, while ENSO-Neutral conditions prevailed throughout, in the Pacific Ocean. The season also defied the earlier predictions of likely La Nina (Pacific Ocean) and positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD).
The spatiotemporal rainfall distribution was decent enough and very much on the predicted lines. The seasonal rainfall was deficit over northeast India and Bihar. The central and southern parts measured normal or excess rainfall. The central parts were the chief beneficiary with a surplus of 20% rainfall. The perennial drought prone pockets of Marathwada, Madhya Maharashtra, Gujarat and Saurashtra&Kutch remained in excess by 20% to 40% rainfall. The largest deficiency was witnessed over Arunachal Pradesh (-29%), Punjab (-28%) and J&K and Ladakh (-26%). About 90 % of the total geographical area of the country measured normal to excess rainfall.
Image Credits – Business Standard