Monsoon has turned normal, IMD says. But it really hasn’t if you see regional variations -Simrin Sirur

-ThePrint.in

While heavy rains have lashed parts of Assam and Meghalaya in the northeast, planting of rain-fed kharif crops has been delayed in Odisha, where the rain deficit is 39%.

New Delhi: After a slow start, the four-month-long Southwest monsoon has finally turned normal, data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) shows.

Compared to a 42 per cent deficit in rainfall recorded on 8 June, the monsoon entered normal territory Tuesday at 98 per cent of the long period average (LPA) — rainfall recorded over a particular region during a given period.

According to the IMD’s long-range forecast issued on 31 May, seasonal rainfall over India is likely at 103 per cent of the LPA, which is 87 cm for the 1971-2020 period).

A normal monsoon is crucial since the June-September season irrigates more than half of India’s kharif crop in areas that lack assured irrigation.

However, even as the monsoon advances over the southern, central and northeastern regions, rainfall patterns show a wide variation across states.

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