July rain likely to be normal across the country, forecasts IMD

July and August are the two most crucial months of the four-month southwest monsoon season

With the southwest monsoon on an extended break, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday sought to play down the fears and said a revival was round the corner, but with a word of caution that there was an equal probability of the rains being “below normal”, “normal” or “above normal” in July.

Climatically, the IMD said rain in July was expected to be 96-104 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA), considered normal for the country as whole. However, chances are in July rain in parts of North-West India, South Peninsular, and parts of Central and North-East India might