The monsoon season in India officially begins on June 1 and lasts until September 30. (File)
New Delhi:
The country received above-normal monsoon precipitation during the four-month season for the second year in a row and recorded the third highest precipitation in the past 30 years, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The country received 109 percent of the long-term average (LPA) rainfall with three of the four months – June (118 percent), August (127 percent) and September (104 percent) – witnessing rainfall above normal, while July recorded (90%) insufficient precipitation. In general, maximum precipitation is received in July and August.
“Quantitatively, the 2020 seasonal monsoon precipitation from June 1 to September 30, 2020 was 95.4 centimeters against a long-period average of 87.7 cm based on 1961-2010 data (109% of its LPA), ”RK Jenamani, scientist at IMD’s National Weather Forecast Center (NWFC) said.
Monsoon in the range of 96 to 104 percent of the LPA is considered “normal”; 104-110 percent as “above normal”, above 110 percent as “excess”. Precipitation below 90% is considered “below normal”.
The monsoon season in India officially begins on June 1 and lasts until September 30.
The southwest monsoon provides around 70% of the country’s annual rainfall, which is critical for the agricultural sector which accounts for around 14% of India’s GDP and employs more than half of the country’s 1.3 billion people. country.
Good rains have boosted the seedlings of the kharif crops which farmers have sown in a record 1,116.88 lakh hectares until last week compared to 1,066.06 lakh hectares a year ago, according to ministry data of Agriculture.
IMD has four meteorological divisions. Of the four, eastern and northeastern India, central India and southern India received above normal precipitation. The North West Division of India recorded insufficient rainfall.
Nineteen states and union territories received normal precipitation this year, while nine states and union territories experienced excessive precipitation. The islands of Bihar, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Lakshadweep recorded excessive rainfall. Sikkim recorded a significant excess of rain.
However, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir have recorded deficiencies. Ladakh has recorded major deficiencies. Delhi also received insufficient rainfall.
“Considering the last years since 1990, the seasonal rainfall across India this year was the third highest, after 112 percent LPA in 1994 and 110 percent LPA in 2019,” Jenamani said.
“It was two consecutive monsoon years that India received good rainfall of 9% of the LPA or more. Thus, 2019 and 2020 are the two consecutive years of above normal monsoon rains, after 1958 (110% of the LPA) and 1959 (114% of the LPA) ”, added Mr. Jenamani.
The monsoon started in Kerala on June 1, its normal annual start date. Its rapid onset was also facilitated by Cyclone Nisarga. The monsoon covered the entire country on June 26, 12 days ahead of its normal July 8 date.
The withdrawal was also late. He withdrew from Western Rajasthan and parts of the Punjab on September 28, 11 days after his normal withdrawal date.
One of the main features of the monsoon was the rainfall in August. The month saw five zones of low pressure (cyclonic circulations) which brought large amounts of precipitation over central India.
The total number of low pressure days was 28 versus the normal of about 15 days in August.
It caused 2 to 3 episodes of river flooding in Odisha, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, southern Gujarat and southern Rajasthan. As a result, it was a record rainfall in August 2020, when rainfall over all of India was 127% of the LPA. is the highest in 44 years after August 1976 (128.4 percent) of the LPA. It is also the fourth in the past 120 years, ”said Jenamani.
Skymet Weather, a private weather forecaster, said that Saurashtra and Kutch, a drought-prone region, had the highest rainfall in the past decade (126% surplus), while Mumbai (Santacruz) recorded a deluge. seasonal 3687 millimeters from normal. from 2206 mm. Delhi recorded rainfall of just 467.7mm with a significant shortfall of 20%, he said.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
