District wise Winter 2022 Rainfall in India

In the just concluded Winter Season 2022 (Jan 1 2022 to Feb 28 2022), as per India Meteorological Department (IMD), India received 44% above Normal Rainfall (it was 32% below normal rainfall in winter 2021 [i]. This is coming on top of almost normal (99.32% of normal rainfall) in SW Monsoon 2021 [ii] and 43.54% above normal rainfall in Post Monsoon season 2021 [iii].

The Normal rainfall in this two-month Winter season is supposed to be quite low at 40.8 mm, but the actual rainfall was 58.7 mm, more than double the 27.8 mm received in winter 2021. The rainfall was close to 1 mm per day in the season. Out of this the Rainfall in January 2021 was 39.6 mm, 129% above the normal rainfall of 17.3 mm. In February 2021, the rainfall was 19.1 mm, against the normal rainfall of 23.5 mm, so the February rainfall was 19% below normal!

However, these figures are an underestimation to the extent that they do not fully include the snowfall figures. This is a major lacuna in IMD reporting rainfall figures from snowfall areas of Himalayan states. Reporting these figures on regular basis is also useful in understanding changing snowfall figures. These can also help in some cases for assessing the possibility of avalanche or such disasters. Currently SASE (Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment), now part of DGRE (Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment) is supposed to monitoring snowfall and avalanche possibilities, but all that information is not in public domain, though it needs to be as this is basic information necessary for all concerned.

In this report we are giving detailed state wise and district wise figures of the rainfall for the 2022 winter season as reported by IMD.

STATEWISE RAINFALL As we can see from the map below, out of 37 states and Union Territories (UTs) of India, 18 had Large Excess, 9 had Excess, 4 had Normal, 4 had deficient, only Karnataka had Large Deficient rainfall (just 0.5 mm, 90% below normal rain of 5.2 mm) and Dadra & Nagar Haveli on western coast (it was in the same situation in 2021 too) had NO RAIN. Himachal Pradesh had the highest rainfall (251.3 mm), at 30 % above normal rainfall of 192.7 mm. Delhi had the highest surplus % at 229%. In 2021 winter, among larger states, Karnataka had the highest surplus % at 604%, rainfall being 36.6 mm, against normal of 5.2 mm.

SUB DIVISION WISE RAINFALL As can be seen from the IMD map below, out of 36 meteorological sub divisions of India, 18 had large excess, 8 had Excess, 2 (J&K & Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh) had normal, 3 (Lakshadweep, Kerala and Gujarat region) had deficient, 5 (North Interior Karnataka, South Interior Karnataka, Coastal Karnataka, Marathwada and Madhya Maharashtra) had Large Deficient. This is in contrast to the rainfall in winter 2021 when South Interior Karnataka had high rainfall and much higher surplus %, coastal Karnataka had even higher rainfall and the Highest surplus % among all the IMD sub divisions.

India Sub Divisions Winter Rainfall in 2022

RIVER BASIN WISE RAINFALL As we have seen in the past, IMD also reports river basin wise rainfall as we can see in the map below. These figures, however, remain unreliable as in case of large number of river basins, IMD is reporting NO RAIN, which is unlikely in many of them.