Rainfall over East & Northeast India was 1017.1 mm, which is lowest since 1901: IMD
Staff Reporter
Guwahati: In this monsoon season, which ended today, five NE states recorded 'deficient' rainfall, including Assam. The worst-affected states are Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
The monsoon season in India starts on June 1 and remains until September 30. After Sept 30, the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon begins, and it moves out of India by the first half of October.
According to the IMD's Regional Meteorological Centre at Guwahati, of the seven NE states under consideration, five of the states recorded low or 'deficient' rainfall, as classified by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The states with such 'deficient' rainfall are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram. Nagaland and Tripura, however, received normal rainfall in this monsoon season.
According to the IMD, deficient rainfall is defined as actual rainfall that is 20% to 59% below the Long Period Average (LPA) for a specific region and time scale. The IMD classifies 'normal' seasonal monsoon rainfall as rainfall that is within 90% to 110% of its Long Period Average (LPA).
In this monsoon season, Arunachal Pradesh received 920.5 mm of rainfall, against the normal of 1,675.2 mm, which is 45% less than normal. Assam received 1075.5 mm rainfall, against the normal of 1461.2 mm, which comes to -26%. Against the normal of 1038.9 mm, Manipur got just 571 mm, which was 45% less than the normal rainfall for the state.
Meghalaya, known as the 'abode of the clouds', however, received 39% less rainfall than normal. In this monsoon season, the state received 1642.5 mm, against the normal of 2696 mm. Another NE state, Mizoram, also received 22% less rainfall than the normal of 1623.1 mm, receiving 1267.1 mm.
After the 'deficient' rainfall states, Nagaland received 1064.3 mm of rainfall, which is considered normal. Tripura also received a normal rainfall of 1128.5 mm.
Meanwhile, the IMD released the salient features of the 2026 Southwest Monsoon Season today, which said: Rainfall over the country as a whole during the 2026 southwest monsoon season (June- September) was 87% of its long period average (LPA). All India Summer monsoon rainfall was 759.4 mm which is 4th lowest since 2001 and 13th lowest since 1901.
"Seasonal rainfall over Northwest India, Central India, South Peninsula, and Northeast India were 94.1%, 97%, 76% and 74% of the respective LPA. Rainfall over East & Northeast India was 1017.1 mm, which is lowest since 1901", the IMD said in the report.
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