Monsoon recedes, rainfall ‘normal’

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 30

The 2016-17 monsoon season officially ended today with a three per cent rain deficit, which is not exactly what the Meteorological Department predicted in the beginning of the season but is well within the normal range.

As per the Met office, for the country as a whole, the cumulative rainfall during this year’s monsoon is three per cent below the long period average, a much better performance after two consecutive years of drought. But the rains have neither been well-distributed nor uniform. While some regions saw a deluge, others ended with much below expectations.

Among the four broad homogeneous regions that the country is divided into for meteorological purposes, the central India received six per cent surplus rains this season. However, the northwest ended with a five per cent and south Peninsula with a seven per cent shortfall. The worst performance by the 2016-17 monsoon during June to September has been in East and North-East, which is 11% deficit as on date.

Though the season may have officially ended, monsoon currents continue to be active over many parts of the country. Its withdrawal line continues to pass through Kupwara, Kukernag, Ludhiana, Pathankot, Churu, Phalodi and Jaisalmer and the IMD is predicting above normal rain activity over many parts of North-East. However, in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, UP, J&K, Uttarakhand and HP, the rains are more or less over.