We are into 48th day of the Southwest Monsoon 2019 and also halfway through the rainiest month of July, but the countrywide cumulative rainfall deficiency is still hanging around 17%. Now, this is a matter of concern for the country.
June had ended with huge rainfall deficiency to the tune 33%. However, July brought some relief and started on rainy note and by July 11, the countrywide Monsoon rainfall had reduced significantly to 12%.
However, country witnessed break-Monsoon conditions by the third week of July. As the country entered lean phase again, rains have taken a back seat in the last five days. Since July 13, rain deficiency on each day had mounted over 20% constantly.
Looking at the season, from June 1 to July 18, the country has recorded 271.8 mm of rain against the normal of 327.8 mm. With this, countrywide rainfall is short by 56 mm, which is a huge number and is a daunting target in itself. According to weathermen, covering this distance would be a tough task because as we progress further the normal values for the Monsoon would be increasing by big margin.
July by itself has not witnessed deficit rains so far. In fact, the month recorded surplus rains straight for the first 10 days of the month. However, scenario has changed in the last week. The month of July which had gone excess by 24% on July 11, now stands with normal. The surplus rain is now being consumed completely and rainfall status for July stands at 0% as on July 18.
In fact, we would now see July rains on the negative side as we do not see any promising spell of rainfall for the next 48 hours as well.
Not only this, another matter of concern during this Monsoon season, is the skewed distribution of rainfall. While one region is witnessing surplus Monsoon rains, other is deficit by huge margin. Following are some of the instances:
Please Note: Rainfall data as on July 18
According to weathermen, spatial distribution is of high importance as it can do more harm than performance of Monsoon. 60% of the area of the country is either deficit or largely deficit. Out of 36 sub-divisions in the country, 19 are deficient, 1 large deficient and 16 normal.
Image Credit: NDTV
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