India experienced wettest May since 1901 with 126.7 mm of rainfall, says IMD
This year, May was not about sweltering heat and extreme temperatures but rain and floods. India experienced the wettest May in 124 years as the country recorded 126.7 mm of rainfall last month, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
May was unusually wet and marked by the early southwest monsoon onset, which brought bountiful rainfall over southern and eastern India regions over the past 10 days.
According to the IMD, there were 1,053 heavy rainfall events (64.4 – 115.5 mm) reported in May concentrated along the west coast, northeast and north India. This was the highest number of heavy rainfall events for the month since 2021.
Central India recorded the highest-ever May rainfall (100.9 mm) since 1901. Over the southern peninsular India, where May rainfall was 199.7 mm, it was the second wettest May in 124 years and the wettest since 2001, the IMD said.
The all-India rainfall of May pushed the pre-monsoon rainfall quota quantitatively to 42 per cent 'above' normal (185.8 mm).
May rainfall topped the charts among the pre-monsoon season with the all-India rainfall settling at 106.4 per cent of the normal.
Similarly, all-India rainfall for April was normal with minus 1.5 per cent.
The pre-monsoon season was dominated by frequent western disturbances (4 each, in March and April and 7 in May), which brought rainfall over north and central India regions. In addition, these wind streams interacted with moisture-laden winds coming in from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, causing widespread rainfall and thunderstorms over the southern peninsular.
Soon after the southwest monsoon onset on May 13 over the south Andaman Sea, the overall rainfall intensity over the country picked up. Multiple, favourable atmospheric and ocean conditions prevailed which also contributed to heightened rainfall over large parts of the country, keeping the all-India rainfall average above normal during May 17 – 31 (see box I).
Such bountiful rain brought-in a rare departure in temperatures during the peak summer, as May remained cooler than normal. The average monthly maximum temperatures recorded over central and south India slid below normal by over 2 degrees.
'In May, there was very good rainfall activity. The maximum temperatures during May remained below normal over south, central and east India,' Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general, IMD, had said last week during the release of the second stage long range monsoon forecast.
The all-India monthly average temperature for May was 1.52 degrees Celsius below normal of 36.60 degrees Celsius. Upon receiving the highest May rainfall in over a century, central India's monthly average maximum temperature saw the sharpest departure from normal (-2.63 degrees Celsius) and it settled at 36.63 degrees Celsius. Same trend was observed over the southern peninsula, where the May month average maximum temperature recorded was 34.13 degrees Celsius as opposed to a normal of 36.38 degrees Celsius (departure of minus 2.25 degrees Celsius). The northwest India region — infamous for day temperatures north of 45 degree Celsius and heatwaves — recorded an average monthly maximum temperature of 35.96 degrees versus a normal of 36.55 degrees. East and northeast India — known to suffer prolonged heatwaves and high temperatures in May — recorded below normal monthly average maximum temperature which was 32.52 degrees Celsius against normal of 32.60 degrees Celsius (see box II).
Significantly, there was no development of a cyclone over the north Indian Ocean basin (Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea) during May. This is the first time since 2020 when a cyclone activity was missing in the basin in May, which is otherwise prone to peak cyclogenesis in May.
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