Southern states get deficient rains

New Delhi, June 29: The southwest monsoon has been playing truant from most southern states and Bihar even as it brought bountiful showers in Rajasthan and the granary states of Punjab and Haryana in the first month of the season.
According to the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) data, the first month of the monsoon season saw the country receive 136.5 mm rainfall against the normal of 157.7 mm, a deficit of 13 per cent, as on June 29.
Bihar and Kerala were the two states that witnessed very little rainfall in June — 69 per cent and 60 per cent below-normal rainfall respectively — for the period.
Bihar received 47.5 mm rains in June against the normal of 151.1 mm. Kerala received 251.1 mm rainfall as against 621.9 mm, which is normal for the season.
Tamil Nadu, which usually gets rains from the northeast monsoon, received 49.3 mm rains against the normal of 51.5 mm for the month of June.
The southwest monsoon had a delayed onset over Kerala on June 8 and lingered on due to Cyclone Biparjoy that had formed in the Arabian Sea around the same time.
The monsoon progressed rapidly after Biparjoy made a landfall in the Saurashtra and Kutch regions of Gujarat on June 15. (PTI)