The country received 577.8 mm of rainfall against the normal 664.7 mm during the period. At the district level, 310 districts were classified as ‘deficient’ and 38 as ‘large deficient’ in the IMD’s June 1-August 25 distribution.

Deficit spread across regions

The largest regional deficits were recorded in east and northeast India and the southern peninsula.

East and northeast India received 759.6 mm against a normal 1,037.1 mm, a 27 per cent deficit, while the south peninsula recorded 412.5 mm against a normal 529.4 mm, a 22 per cent deficit.

Among the states and Union territories in the deficient category, Meghalaya had the largest shortfall at 58 per cent below normal, followed by Manipur at 43 per cent, Bihar at 42 per cent, Arunachal Pradesh at 40 per cent and Andhra Pradesh at 39 per cent.

Punjab recorded a 34 per cent deficit, followed by Goa and Puducherry at 33 per cent each, Assam at 25 per cent, Lakshadweep at 24 per cent, Mizoram and Karnataka at 22 per cent each, Rajasthan at 21 per cent and Kerala at 20 per cent.

The complete list of 14 deficient states and UTs was Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Bihar, Punjab, Rajasthan, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep.

District-level picture

The IMD’s district-wise distribution for June 1-August 25 shows a mixed rainfall pattern within states.

Of the districts listed in the distribution, 287 were in the normal category, 80 received excess rainfall and 19 recorded large excess rainfall. Seven were listed under the no-data category. The same table recorded 310 deficient and 38 large-deficient districts.

Bihar had 32 deficient and three large-deficient districts out of 38 listed. Assam had 18 deficient and one large-deficient district, while Meghalaya had three deficient and seven large-deficient districts.

Andhra Pradesh had 24 deficient and one large-deficient district. Karnataka had 18 deficient and two large-deficient districts, while Kerala had six deficient districts and no large-deficient district.

Uttar Pradesh, which has 75 districts in the IMD table, had 28 deficient and eight large-deficient districts. Rajasthan had 19 deficient districts, while Punjab had 14 deficient and four large-deficient districts.

Rainfall remains uneven

Uttar Pradesh received 501 mm against a normal 564.3 mm, an 11 per cent deficit, while Delhi recorded 498.7 mm against a normal 415.8 mm, an excess of 20 per cent.

IMD’s forecast indicated that subdued rainfall activity was likely to continue over Peninsular India during the following week. It forecast fairly widespread to widespread rainfall over parts of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, as well as parts of eastern and northeast India, during different periods through the end of August.