83 per cent of India rain deficient; revival later this week, says MET Department

New Delhi: India's crucial monsoon rains have been 31 per cent deficient so far but the weather office has forecast increase in rainfall for peninsular region and fall in temperature for northern region over the next four days.

According to data released by the weather office on Sunday evening, 83 per cent of the area of the country, including the granary states of Punjab and Haryana, has received deficient or scanty rainfall.

The country as a whole has received 119.3 mm rainfall as against the normal of 172 mm since the onset till July 1.

The weatherman said cyclonic circulations had formed over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, raising hopes for good rains in the peninsular region.

Weather scientists expect the monsoon rains to revive later this week and bring copious rains to most parts of the country.

These two weather systems are traditionally known to drive the monsoon rains into parts of north and northwest India through their interaction with the extra-tropical systems or the western disturbances.

The MET office has forecast rain or thundershowers would occur at many places over west coast, interior Maharashtra, interior Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Odisha, south Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

Rainfall in June accounts for 18 per cent of season's total and the deficiency had been 29 per cent till Saturday.

In 2009, the June rains were 47.2 per cent below a 50-year average called as the long period average.

This year has seen a delayed onset of monsoon rains over Kerala and they have been making a sluggish progress drawing concerns from the farming community.

The weather office, however, has only marginally downgraded the seasonal forecast keeping it within the normal range.