Southwest Monsoon Covers Entire India After Slowest Advance In Five Years

The southwest monsoon has covered the entire country, completing its advance on Thursday, around 35 days after arriving over the Kerala coast. The progress marks one of the slowest nationwide advances of the monsoon in the past five years, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The last time the monsoon took longer to cover the country was in 2021, when it reached Kerala on June 3 and completed its journey across India on July 13, taking nearly 40 days.

This year, the southwest monsoon arrived over Kerala on June 4, about three days later than its normal onset date. It eventually covered the entire country on July 9, according to IMD data.

After a sluggish start, monsoon activity improved significantly in July, helping reduce the overall rainfall deficit. The cumulative shortfall, which had widened to nearly 30% by June 30, declined to around 15% by July 8 following strong rainfall activity over western and central India.

The improvement in rainfall is expected to provide support to the ongoing kharif sowing season. Agricultural activities had been lagging behind last year’s pace, with sowing progress down by nearly 22% as of July 5.

Despite the recent recovery, the IMD has forecast below-normal rainfall for the overall monsoon season. Rainfall during the June-September period is expected to remain around 90% of the Long Period Average (LPA), raising concerns over the impact of possible El Niño conditions.

The Centre has begun preparations to minimise the impact of below-normal rainfall and potential El Niño effects across various sectors. The Prime Minister’s Office recently held a high-level review meeting involving key ministries, including agriculture, power, rural development, economic affairs and consumer affairs.

During the meeting, ministries presented their preparedness plans and were asked to closely monitor weather developments. Officials were directed to implement localised and region-specific strategies to protect agricultural output and economic activity in areas facing rainfall shortages.

The Agriculture Ministry is also tracking the situation and has identified around 375 districts that could be vulnerable to deficient rainfall. Of these, 111 districts have been categorised as “extremely vulnerable”.

The government is continuing to monitor rainfall patterns, crop conditions, reservoir levels and other indicators to ensure timely intervention in affected regions.