Monsoon ends with 8% surplus rains, but withdrawal stalled

Over 70% chance of La Nina in October-December: IMD

- SANJEEB MUKHERJEE

The four-month southwest monsoon season officially ended on Tuesday, with the country recording eight per cent surplus showers, even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted “above normal” showers in the coming four weeks across the nation.

The record monsoon rains across India during the June to September months was 937.2 millimetres, the sth-highest since 2001 and 38th-highest since 1901.

“This season, against a normal of §5 days of Low Pressure Systems (LPS) out of the 122 days of monsoon, we had 69 days of LPS out of 122 which caused such copious rains,” IMD’sDirector General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra told reporters.