NEW DELHI: Monthly rainfall over India as a whole during September is most likely to be below normal, the India Meteorological Department said on Monday in its monthly forecast.
The IMD also said that India experienced the hottest August in 2026 since 1901, with the mean temperature at 28.01 degrees Celsius.
The weather department said that the rainfall is expected to be below 91 per cent of the long period average (LPA) in September.
LPA refers to the rainfall recorded over a particular region for a given period, such as a month or a season, averaged over a long period, typically 30 to 50 years.
For September, the LPA is about 167.9 mm based on data between 1971 and 2020.
The IMD also said that during September, the monthly average maximum temperatures are likely to be above normal.
Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of Meteorology at the IMD, said in a statement that currently, strong El Nino conditions are prevailing over the equatorial Pacific Ocean, with sea surface temperature (SST) remaining above normal across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific.
“These conditions are expected to strengthen further in the coming months,” he said.
According to Mohapatra, India experienced the hottest August in 2026 since 1901, as the mean temperature stood at 28.01 degrees Celsius.
The normal mean temperature for the month is 27.34 degrees Celsius.
He said the average minimum temperature for August 2026 was also the highest since 1901, touching 24.36 degrees Celsius against a normal of 23.68 degrees Celsius.
The month also witnessed deficient rainfall at 213.3 mm – the seventh lowest since 2001, the IMD said.
A key reason behind the below-normal rainfall was moderate to strong El Nino conditions prevailing over the equatorial Pacific.
Moreover, although four low-pressure systems formed during August and collectively persisted for 26 days, their rainfall activity remained largely confined to the Indo-Gangetic plains, leaving other parts in rainfall deficit, the IMD said.
