The monsoon may go to upend forecasts of a July fade-out, staging an emphatic comeback on the back of a relentless succession of Bay of Bengal low-pressure systems, almost recreating the season’s peak wet spell earlier this month.
The clearest sign of the revival came on Monday when a low-pressure area over the north-west Bay of Bengal intensified dramatically within two to three days into a deep depression, a rarity during the monsoon season and just one rung below a tropical cyclone. The strengthening flies in the face of expectations that a building El Niño would sap the monsoon’s vigour through July.
The renewed burst of activity has sharply improved the national rainfall picture. Cumulative rainfall across India until Sunday stood at a deficit of 15 per cent, with Central India almost back to normal at minus 3 per cent and North-West India at minus 8 per cent. East and North-East India, after weeks of concern, improved to a deficit of 29 per cent, matching that of the South Peninsula which lagged with the same figure.
