Indias rainfall deficit during June was mainly attributed to the delayed monsoon onset.
India received the lowest June rainfall this year since 2020 the third consecutive year when the countrys rainfall in this month was below average. The all-India rainfall for the season, which commenced exactly a month ago, stood at 147.2 mm and this was 11 per cent short of normal.
Being the onset month, the monsoon does not cover the whole of India and some rainfall deficit is normal. June rainfall amounts to 15 per cent of the countrys total southwest monsoon seasonal rainfall of 880mm (1971-2020 data).
This season, the Southwest Monsoon arrived over Kerala on May 30 and progressed on time up until Maharashtra, where it advanced around June 9. Thereafter, the weak monsoon currents and the absence of favourable synoptic systems stalled the monsoon advance over the Eastern states of West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Bihar along with areas of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
Subsequently, many of these states suffered extended heatwave conditions late in June. Warm nights added to the overall hot conditions over the North and Northwest India regions last month. Finally, it was only in the last week of June when the monsoon advance picked pace.
June rainfall over India (2020 2024)
(Source : IMD)
