India Records Lowest June Rainfall Since 2020 While States Faced Heatwave, Third Year Of Below-Average Monsoon In Month

India has experienced the lowest June rainfall this year since 2020, marking the third consecutive year of below-average rainfall in this month as per a report by The Indian Express.

The all-India rainfall for the season, which started a month ago, was 147.2 mm, 11 per cent below normal.

This season, the Southwest Monsoon arrived in Kerala on 30 May and progressed on schedule until reaching Maharashtra around 9 June.

After that, weak monsoon currents and the lack of favourable weather systems halted the monsoon's advance over Eastern states like West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Bihar, as well as parts of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.

As a result, many of these states experienced extended heatwave conditions in late June, with warm nights exacerbating the overall hot conditions in North and Northwest India.

The monsoon finally picked up pace in the last week of June.

India's June rainfall deficit was largely due to a delayed monsoon onset, by a week to 10 days, affecting states like Jharkhand (-61 per cent), Bihar (-52 per cent), Uttarakhand (-49 per cent), Haryana (-46 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (-34 per cent), Gujarat (-30 per cent), Chhattisgarh (-28 per cent), Odisha (-27 per cent), and Kerala (-25 per cent).

Currently, the Southwest Monsoon is in its active phase, with multiple weather systems contributing to good rainfall across large areas of the country.

Cyclonic circulations are present over East Jharkhand, North Assam, and Central Madhya Pradesh, and two troughs are running between the Arabian Sea and Northwest Bihar and from North Assam to North Odisha.

The monsoon has advanced further into Western Rajasthan, Haryana, the rest of Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, and parts of Punjab. The Northern Limit of Monsoon now passes through Jaisalmer, Churu, Hisar, Karnal, Jalandhar, and Tarn Taran.

Along the west coast, ongoing rainfall will continue, with heavy to very heavy rainfall expected in Konkan, Goa, coastal Karnataka, and Kerala during the week ahead. These regions have already been experiencing widespread rainfall for the past week.

In the next two to three days, there is a high likelihood that the monsoon will cover the entire country ahead of its normal date of 15 July.