For July 2023, an analysis in this article of the daily district wise rainfall data from India Meteorological Department (IMD) shows that there were 855 (809 in July 2022 and 717 in July 2021) instances when district rainfall of a day was above 50 mm. Such high rainfall instances included 660 (663 in July 2022) instances when rainfall was 50-100 mm, 149 (107 in July 2022) instances when it was 100-150 mm, 34 (28 in July 2022) times it was 150-200 mm and 12 (13 in July 2022) times above 200 mm. As noted in detailed article[i], the July 2023 rainfall all over India was 13.5% above normal.
Out of 717 districts of India, 318 districts or about 44.4 % (44.8% in July 2022) of the districts experienced rainfall over 50 mm at least one day in July 2023. There were of course many districts that had more than one such high rainfall days in July 2023. The highest number of such instances in July 2023 were seen in Maharashtra (121), followed by Gujarat (65), the same as in July 2022.
Among the five regions of India (North, South, East, West and North East), in July 2023, West India again, like in July 2022, had the highest number of such instances at 298 (376 in July 2022), followed by South India (200) and North India (144). East India in July 2023, like in July 2022, had the least such instances (96 in July 2023 compared to 58 in July 2022).
North East India
| State | Districts that had over 50 mm rainfall at least on one day in July 2023 (Total no of districts) | No of district days when rainfall 50-100 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 100-150 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 150-200 | No of district days when Rainfall over 200 mm | Total no of district days when rainfall over 50 mm |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 10 (16) | 30 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 35 |
| Assam | 8 (27) | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| Meghalaya | 7 (11) | 20 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 36 |
| Nagaland | 4 (11) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Manipur | 4 (9) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Mizoram | 3 (8) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Tripura | 6 (8) | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Sikkim | 3 (4) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| North East India | 45 (94) | 93 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 117 |
East India
| State | Districts that had over 50 mm rainfall at least on one day in July 2023 (Total no of districts) | No of district days when rainfall 50-100 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 100-150 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 150-200 | No of district days when Rainfall over 200 mm | Total no of district days when rainfall over 50 mm |
| W Bengal | 6 (19) | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Odisha | 13 (30) | 14 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Jharkhand | 6 (24) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Bihar | 9 (38) | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 30 (75) | 37 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 43 |
| East India | 64 (186) | 80 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 96 (58) |
North India
| State/ Union Territory | Districts that had over 50 mm rainfall at least on one day in July 2023 (Total no of districts) | No of district days when rainfall 50-100 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 100-150 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 150-200 | No of district days when Rainfall over 200 mm | Total no of district days when rainfall over 50 mm |
| Uttarakhand | 11 (13) | 21 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 25 |
| Haryana | 12 (22) | 21 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 28 |
| Chandigarh | 1 (1) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Delhi | 8 (9) | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Punjab | 15 (22) | 18 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 27 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 11 (12) | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 32 |
| Jammu & Kashmir | 9 (20) | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| Ladakh | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| North India | 67 (101) | 98 | 33 | 10 | 3 | 144 (78) |
West India
| State | Districts that had over 50 mm rainfall at least on one day in July 2023 (Total no of districts) | No of district days when rainfall 50-100 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 100-150 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 150-200 | No of district days when Rainfall over 200 mm | Total no of district days when rainfall over 50 mm |
| Rajasthan | 7 (33) | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 18 (52) | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| Diu Daman | 2 (2) | 9 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 12 |
| Gujarat | 21 (33) | 47 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 65 |
| Dadra Nagarhaveli | 1 (1) | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 11 |
| Goa | 2 (2) | 24 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 33 |
| Maharashtra | 21 (36) | 87 | 24 | 7 | 3 | 121 |
| Chhattisgarh | 10 (27) | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| West India | 82 (186) | 228 | 54 | 12 | 4 | 298 (376) |
South India
| State | Districts that had over 50 mm rainfall at least on one day in July 2023 (Total no of districts) | No of district days when rainfall 50-100 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 100-150 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 150-200 | No of district days when Rainfall over 200 mm | Total no of district days when rainfall over 50 mm |
| Andhra Pradesh | 6 (26) | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Telangana | 31 (33) | 67 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 80 |
| Tamil Nadu | 1 (38) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Puducherry | 1 (4) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Karnataka | 6 (31) | 39 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 52 |
| Kerala | 13 (14) | 36 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 46 |
| Lakshadweep | 1 (1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Andaman & Nicobar | 1 (3) | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| South India | 60 (150) | 161 | 30 | 7 | 2 | 200 (224) |
INDIA In the table below we have tabulated the figures for high rainfall district days in July 2023 for each region and also given in brackets the figures for July 2022. We can see that while the number of high rainfall events in July 2023 compared to those in July 2022 are higher at all India level for some high rainfall range and also for total number of such events across all high rainfall range, they are lower for South and West India, but higher for North East, East and North India.
| Region | Districts that had over 50 mm rainfall at least on one day in June 2023/(Total no of districts | No of district days when rainfall 50-100 mm (July 2022, July 2021) | No of district days when Rainfall 100-150 mm (July 2022, July 2021) | No of district days when Rainfall 150-200 (July 2022, July 2021) | No of district days when Rainfall over 200 mm (July 2022, July 2021) | Total no of district days when rainfall over 50 mm (July 2022, July 2021) |
| North East | 45/ 94 | 93 (88, 69) | 17 (6, 8) | 4 (1, 0) | 3 (0, 0) | 117 (95, 77) |
| East | 64/ 186 | 80 (56, 135) | 15 (2, 21) | 1 (0, 4) | 0 (0, 1) | 96 (58, 161) |
| North | 67/ 101 | 98 (74, 101) | 33 (4, 9) | 10 (0, 0) | 3 (0, 1) | 144 (78, 111) |
| West | 82/ 186 | 228 (285, 156) | 54 (64, 50) | 12 (14, 10) | 4 (13, 5) | 298 (376, 221) |
| South | 60/ 150 | 161 (178, 134) | 30 (36, 10) | 7 (8, 3) | 2 (2, 0) | 200 (224, 147) |
| INDIA (July 2022, July 2021) | 318/ 717 (315/703, 357/ 694) | 660 (663, 595) | 149 (107, 98) | 34 (23, 17) | 12 (16, 7) | 855 (809, 717) |
The July 2023 rainfall at all India level was 318.4 mm compared to 327.7 in July 2022 and 266.1 mm in July 2021. Even with lesser rainfall in July 2023 compared to July 2022, the total number of district days with rainfall over 50 mm in July 2023 is higher at 855 compared to 809 in July 2022. Moreover, the total number of district days with rainfall of 100-150 (149 in July 2023) and rainfall of 150-200 mm (34) in July 2023 is much higher than those in July 2022 at 107 and 23 respectively. This seems to indicate increasing frequency of high intensity rainfall days.
SANDRP (ht.sandrp@gmail.com)
[i] https://sandrp.in/2022/08/05/june-july-2022-district-wise-rainfall-in-in-indias-sw-monsoon/
SANDRP 