Monsoon slows, rain deficit at 24%

New Delhi: Rains picked up in the third week of the monsoon's arrival, but the overall deficit was still high at 24% on the eve of IMD's second monsoon forecast, expected on Friday. The third week of monsoon (June 14-20) showed a rain deficit of 5%, down from 50% the week before. 

    But officials warned that the monsoon seems to have again stopped in its tracks and may not advance for another four days as the flows were affected by atmospheric storm 'Talim'. "The monsoon progress is slightly behind schedule, but such delays are usual," said L S Rathore, director-general of India Meteorological Department. 
    "If the monsoon progress was delayed by more than a week, then it would have been a cause of concern," Rathore said, implying the rains would increase their spread shortly into areas which would have usually already received them by this time of the year. 
    But concerns over the monsoon's performance remain, with fears of El Nino as well as an unusual temperature difference in the Indian Ocean (called a negative Indian Ocean Dipole) developing later in the season. Both phenomena are known to weaken the monsoon in India. 
    A delayed start is not unusual and the key to avoiding drought really lies in distribution of the rains over key crop producing areas during July and August — the heaviest rainfall months.

An IMD official said the monsoon's progress is slightly slow but this is not very unusual