Winter Season 2025 Third Driest Of Last One Decade

January and February together are considered winter season rainfall. The month of March, though a transition period, is counted against the pre-monsoon, even for the northern parts of the country.    The month of January remained terribly short of normal rainfall with an overall pan-India deficiency of 71%.  February was a shade better with a shortfall of about 30% rainfall. Seasonal rainfall was the third driest, after 2016 and 2018, with an overall deficit of 47% between 01st Jan and 28th Feb 2025.

A large contribution to the winter rainfall comes from Northwest India and East & Northeast India. Northwest India contributes double the amount of East and Northeast India. The least contribution comes from Central India. Earlier, the seasonal shortfall had gone up to over 70% till the first half of February. Courtesy, back-to-back western disturbances over the mountains and an active perturbation across the Southern Peninsula during the last week of February, there was reasonable recovery. 

All four homogenous regions of India have a shortfall of winter rainfall. The respective seasonal deficit between 01st Jan and 28th Feb 2025 is 29% in East & Northeast India, 45% in Northwest India, 90% in Central India, and 45% in the South Peninsula. Eastern states of the country, like Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, had a large deficit in excess of 70%. Gujarat, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh practically remained dry. All the sub-divisions over South Peninsula, outside Tamil Nadu and Coastal Karnataka, witnessed a seasonal shortfall of 60% to 90% rainfall during the season.