The South-West monsoon season ended Monday with the country as a whole receiving 7.6 per cent above normal rains during the June-September period, with as much as 89 per cent of the geographical area reporting ‘normal’ or higher rainfall, potentially helping the country’s expectation for a bumper production of winter-sown crops.

The seasonal rainfall during June-September has been recorded at 93.48 cm, as against 86.86 cm, considered the long period average (1971-2020) for the period. Rainfall between 104 and 110 is categorised as “above normal” by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The geographical distribution shows that the Central meteorological division received 19 per cent surplus rains, the south peninsula 14 per cent higher than normal, and the north-west region 7 per cent above normal in the current year’s monsoon season. Only, the east and north-west region received 14 per cent less than normal rainfall, but quantitatively it is still the highest among all regions at 117.9 cm.

• Monsoon starts withdrawal, five subdivisions get deficient rains

IMD had predicted that the monsoon this year would be in the “above normal” range, quantitatively 106 per cent of the LPA, with a model error of ± 4 per cent. It had also forecast that the monsoon was likely to be above normal over Central and Southern India, normal over the North-West region, and below normal over North-East India, which has proved correct this year.

IMD data showed that India had received 11 per cent above normal rain in September. While the east and north-east region got 19 per cent below normal precipitation this month, the south peninsula received 7 per cent lower than normal rain. However, September proved good for the Central region that recorded a 32 per cent surplus, and the north-west that got 29 per cent above normal rainfall.

Only three sub-divisions, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, out of 36 witnessed below normal or deficient rainfall this year, IMD said in a bulletin.