India to receive above normal rainfall in Aug-Sept: IMD

India is expected to receive above-normal rainfall in the second half of the monsoon season (August-September), according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

“Rainfall will be normal in August and above normal in September. Together, these two months will record above-normal rainfall,” said IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra. The cumulative rainfall for August-September is forecast to be 106 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA), which stands at 422.8 mm.

The IMD’s regional forecast for August predicts that most parts of the country will receive above normal rainfall, except for many areas in the North-East, adjoining eastern India, some isolated parts of central India and the southwestern peninsula, where below normal rainfall is likely.

Temperature-wise, monthly average maximum temperatures in August will range from normal to below normal, while minimum temperatures will remain normal to above normal across the country.

India recorded 4.8 per cent above normal rainfall in July, receiving 294.1 mm against a normal of 280.5 mm. Cumulatively, from June 1 to July 31, rainfall stood at 474.3 mm — 6 per cent above the norm.

Despite the surplus, rainfall in East and North-East India during July was just 312.3 mm — the seventh lowest since 1901 and the fourth lowest since 2001. “There was no large-scale flooding in July except in Himachal Pradesh, which saw landslides. The North-East was the warmest region,” Mohapatra added.

The country recorded 624 very heavy and 76 extremely heavy rainfall events in July — the lowest figures for the month in five years.

Mohapatra also announced the upcoming launch of the Block-Wise Rainfall Monitoring Scheme (BRMS), an indigenous system that will provide real-time rainfall data across 7,200 administrative blocks. This is a tenfold increase in spatial resolution compared to the current District-Wise Rainfall Monitoring Scheme, operational since 1992.

“This will significantly improve the granularity and utility of rainfall data,” he said.