West Rajasthan is the least rainfall pocket in the country, even lesser than the rain shadow Tamil Nadu. The average seasonal rainfall in Rajasthan is 263 mm, while Tamil Nadu observes 317 mm of rain.
The onset of Monsoon in Rajasthan is late (by end of June) and the withdrawal is early (starts from first week of September) therefore rainfall in this sub-division is less. June in any case had not been good for the entire country with the cumulative rainfall deficit of 43%. In fact this deficit continued almost till the mid of July after which some recovery was observed.
During this period the rainfall deficit in Rajasthan was even worse. By June end the rainfall deficit in this sub-division was 54%. It however, improved in July and ended up with a deficit of 8%. The cumulative deficit for June and July stood at 20%.
However, August began on a positive note for west Rajasthan. Some good rain in the first week pulled down the deficit by a huge margin, which almost beame normal. The deficit by the end of the week was only 1%. Thereafter, situation began to deteriorate due to lack of rain and the region became deficit again. Currently the rainfall deficit for West Rajasthan stands at 20%.
The withdrawal of Monson in India begins from West Rajasthan, from first week of September. And with high temperatures and no rain in sight the situation looks very similar to the withdrawal phase.
However, Skymet Meteorology Division in India believes that the retreat of Monsoon from the region might get delayed once the system in the Bay of Bengal begins to move forward.
