Good rainfall set to cool things down in northwest India

NEW DELHI: Despite an 11% shortfall in June, monsoon this year could end in the 'above normal' range with IMD expecting good rainfall in the coming three months of the season.

"In 20 out of the 25 years, when June rainfall was below normal, July rainfall was normal or above normal. Similarly, in 17 of the 25 years, when June rainfall was below normal, overall southwest monsoon rainfall was normal or above normal," said IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra while sharing past data that indicate high probability of 'above normal' seasonal rainfall in the country when La Nina would be an important factor.

As far as temperature is concerned, good rainfall will bring relief with maximum (day) temperature being normal to below normal over many parts of the northwest India in July.

In contrast, northwest India recorded a mean temperature of 31.73 degrees Celsius in June, 1.65 degrees Celsius above normal and the highest since 1901. Even the monthly average maximum temperature in the region was 38.02 degrees Celsius, 1.96 degrees Celsius above normal and highest since 1901.

IMD data shows that Rajasthan, MP, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, west and east UP, HP, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, and Saurashtra and Kutch regions of Gujarat experienced 20 to 38 days of heat waves during April-June period.

Summer (March-June) in India this year experienced around a total of 536 heat wave days (heat wave days of all 36 meteorological subdivisions put together) - the highest since 2010 (578 days), when IMD started gathering this data. In June, the country experienced 181 heat wave days, the highest in the last 15-years with earlier highest recorded in 2010 (177 days).