The southwest monsoon rains, which had covered the entire country last week ahead of schedule, was vigorous on Sunday over Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, and remained active over Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim and Kerala.
The Met department has predicted heavy rainfall in the eastern, southern and western regions during next few days. “Heavy to very heavy rainfall would occur at West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam and Meghalaya. Heavy rainfall would occur at isolated places over Arunachal Pradesh, Vidarbha, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and parts of Karnataka and Kerala,” the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its latest weather bulletin.
According to IMD, the country as a whole has received 19% more rainfall than the normal till now, which would help in increasing kharif sowing activities in the next few weeks.
The quantum of monsoon rainfall across the country during June 1-28 has been 176.5 millimetres, which is above the normal by 19% from the benchmark of 148 millimetres, arrived on the basis of a 50-year average shower.
On the region-wise distribution, central India has received maximum amount of rain, with a surplus of 31% of the benchmark while the southern peninsula has experienced 26% more rainfall than normal so far. The northwest regions have received 25% more rains than normal. The eastern and northeastern regions have received only 2% more shower than the normal.