It may have poured in several northern districts of Jharkhand in July but IMD data revealed that rainfall was below normal in Kolhan and several other regions of southern Jharkhand.
Met statistics show Jharkhand has so far recorded 340.9mm rain against a normal of 353.2mm, a deficit of three per cent.
Except for six districts of the north - Palamau, Hazaribagh, Latehar, Lohardaga, Chatra and Bokaro (which recorded surplus rain) all other 18 districts recorded deficit rains, ranging between four and 45 per cent till mid-July.
Statistics revealed that last year, July had ended with a 37 per cent rain deficit while June had ended in 55 per cent deficit.
All the three districts of the Kolhan region in southern Jharkhand - East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan _ which had registered surplus rain at the end of June have now notched up deficits.
According to Met figures, Seraikela-Kharsawan district was facing a rain deficit of 28 per cent while the deficit figure was 12 per cent in West Singhbhum. East Singhbhum was facing rain deficit of 10 per cent.
Gumla and Simdega which falls in southern Jharkhand were staring at deficit of 50 per cent and 24 per cent respectively.
This year, the southwest monsoon arrived in Jharkhand two days early on June 13. The monsoon currents initially remained weak but gained momentum, resulting in heavy and widespread showers. Hence, June ended with surplus rain of two per cent
In July so far, Jharkhand witnessed an average of seven rain days. The northern part of the state experienced heavy rain in the first two weeks of July while the rest of Jharkhand witnessed moderate to light rain.
The southwest monsoon was active over Jharkhand during the past 24 hours. The monsoon trough was passing through Hazaribagh, Bankura and Digha on Wednesday.
Weathermen held out hope. "Jharkhand is expected to witness moderate rain for the next 72 hours," said S.D. Kotal, director of the Ranchi Meteorological Centre.
He said a cyclonic circulation over north-west Bay of Bengal and neighbouring Gangetic Bengal was hovering between 1.5km and 7.6 km above the mean sea level.
