9 percent more rain than normal average in the first fortnight of July
17-Jul-2024 06:26 PM
New Delhi. In the southwest monsoon season which is active from June to September, the maximum rainfall has been in July. During the current year also, in the first half (fortnight) of July, about 9 percent more rain was recorded at the national level than the normal season, while 39 percent surplus rainfall was recorded between July 1 and 7.
This clearly indicates that the monsoon remained weak in the second week of July and many parts of the country received less than normal rainfall.
The Meteorological Department has expressed the possibility of increase in the activity and intensity of monsoon during the current week, which will prove to be very important and useful for the sowing and progress of Kharif crops and this will compensate for the shortfall in rainfall. Most of the sowing of Kharif crops is done in July itself.
According to the Meteorological Department, monsoon rainfall was 15 percent less last week. Heavy shortage of rain was recorded in all the other meteorological subdivisions of the country except the Southern Peninsula. Due to this, the scope of shortage of rain increased in some states.
According to the Meteorological Department, a low pressure area was formed near the southern Orissa coast over the Bay of Bengal on July 15, while another low pressure area is likely to form in the next few days (by July 19), which is likely to lead to sudden but expected monsoon rains.
Heavy rains are expected in many parts of the country in the second fortnight of July. Monsoon rains were 11 percent less than the normal average in June.
Heavy rains were being predicted in July, but there was no concrete indication of this in the first fortnight.
By July 15, the total production area of Kharif crops increased to more than 575 lakh hectares, which is 54 lakh hectares more than the sown area of 521 lakh hectares in the same period last year and more than 50 percent of the normal average area of 1096 lakh hectares.
The matter of concern is that some states abroad are still grappling with the crisis of severe shortage of rain.