Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 10: With the peak rainy season over by July, Kerala has received 22 per cent less than the normal rainfall, but the year is expected to close near-normal with widespread showers in the remaining two months. In June-July period, when usually it pours buckets, the state received an average 1033.5 mm of rainfall against the normal 1317.7 mm, according to met office here.

The scenario, however, is much better than last year, which recorded the 50 year overall deficiency of 35 per cent.

The shortfall in June-July period last year was a huge 50 per cent, Indian Meteorological Departnment director M D Ramachandran told a news agency.
IMD makes the comparison based on 1941-99 normal rainfall, which is the same as followed by World Meteorlogical Organization (WMO), he said.

The rainfall this year in most part of the country has been normal so far, except Kerala and south and north interior Karnataka, he said.

"Still, the final score we are expecting is near normal. There are symptoms of widespread rains in august triggered by low pressure in the Bay of Bengal," he said. The late arrival of monsoon, need not result in deficient rainfall. In the last 50 years, there were 22 cases of late arrival, of which in 15 cases rainfall had been normal, he said.

Bureau Report