The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday said rain in August and September, the second half of the monsoon season, will be on the higher side.
In August, however, rain is expected to be "normal to below normal over parts of northwest and central India", said India Meteorological Department Director General Mrutunjay Mohapatra said.
Rain over the country during the southwest
monsoon season "is most likely to be normal -- 95 per cent to 105 per cent of Long Period Average (LPA) -- with a tendency to be in the positive side of the normal", the
IMD forecast stated.
The LPA is a mean of the rain recorded over a period of 50 years. It acts as a benchmark against which the annual rainfall is measured. If the rainfall is below 90 percent of the LPA, the country has received deficient rainfall. Similarly, when the rainfall is above 110 percent, the country is said to have received excess rainfall. Normal rainfall is when it falls between 96 percent and 104 percent of the LPA.
The southwest monsoon arrived in Kerala on June 3, two days behind its schedule. It then covered other parts of India by June 19. However, the monsoon stopped in its tracks across central India in the third week of June, resulting in a three-week delay in rain during the crucial sowing season.
-PTC News
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