An analysis of the daily district wise rainfall data from India Meteorological Department (IMD) for the month of Aug 2024, shows that there were 717 (500 in Aug 2023; 667 in Aug 2022[i] and 431 in Aug 2021) instances when district rainfall of a day in a district was above 50 mm. Such high rainfall instances included 572 (424/ 553/ 371 in Aug 2023, Aug 2022 and Aug 2021 respectively) instances when rainfall was 50-100 mm; 113 (67/ 98/ 48 in Aug 2023, Aug 2022 and Aug 2021 respectively) instances when it was 100-150 mm; 19 (5/ 13/ 11 in Aug 2023, Aug 2022 and Aug 2021 respectively) times it was 150-200 mm; and 13 (4/ 3/ 1 in Aug 2023, Aug 2022 and Aug 2021 respectively) instance when a district day rainfall was above 200 mm.
Out of 729 current districts of India, 362 (262 in Aug 2023) districts or about 49.7% of the districts experienced such high rainfall in August 2024. The highest number of such instances were seen, surprisingly, in Gujarat, where for the 33 districts (29 of them had such instances, only 4 did not) there were 78 instances when rainfall was above 50 mm in this month. MP was second with 65 instances involving 38 of its 52 districts. Rajasthan, surprisingly, was the third with 61 instances, involving 30 of its 33 districts.
Among the five regions of India (North, South, East, West and North East), West India had the highest number of such instances (292), followed by E India (138) and NE India (126). South India had the least such instances at 82.
The distribution of number of high rainfall events in various rainfall ranges (50-100 mm, 100-150 mm, 150-200 mm, 200-250 mm and above 250 mm) for Aug 2021 to 2024 can be seen in following table. The number of high rainfall events are the highest for Aug 2024 compared to last four years for all the rainfall categories, partly as August 2024 is higher than Aug rainfall in previous three years.
| Aug 2021 | Aug 2022 | Aug 2023 | Aug 2024 | |
| 50-100 mm | 371 | 555 | 424 | 572 |
| 100-150 mm | 48 | 96 | 67 | 113 |
| 150-200 mm | 11 | 13 | 5 | 19 |
| Over 200 mm | 1 | 3 | 4 | 13 |
| TOTAL | 431 | 667 | 500 | 717 |
| Aug All India rainfall, mm | 195.9 | 263.8 | 162.7 | 295.2 |
In the table below we have given the regional distribution of total number of high rainfall district days in August 2021 to Aug 2024. Firstly, it is clear that the number of districts that experienced at least one high rainfall event in Aug 2024 at 362 is the highest in last four years. However, it is only in North India and West India that the number of high rainfall events are highest in Aug 2024 in last four years. For North East and East, the numbers were highest in Aug 2023 and for South India, they were the highest in Aug 2022.
| Aug 2021 | Aug 2022 | Aug 2023 | Aug 2024 | |
| North East | 135 | 63 | 153 | 126 |
| East | 121 | 167 | 177 | 132 |
| North | 22 | 45 | 68 | 85 |
| West | 104 | 282 | 86 | 292 |
| South | 49 | 110 | 16 | 82 |
| No of districts that had such instances | 216/694 | 308/703 | 262/717 | 362/729 |
In the following sections we are giving in tabular format, the number of high rainfall events in Aug 2024 in each state in each region, for each rainfall category.
North East India In the table below are given the number of such high rainfall district days in each of the states in North East India in each of the high rainfall categories in August 2024.
| State | Districts that had over 50 mm rainfall at least on one day in Aug 2024 (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 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 200-250 mm | No of district days when Rainfall over 250 mm | Total no of district days when rainfall over 50 mm |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 8 (16) | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| Assam | 13 (27) | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Meghalaya | 9 (11) | 23 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 36 |
| Nagaland | 2 (11) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Manipur | 3 (9) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Mizoram | 6 (8) | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Tripura | 8 (8) | 13 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 28 |
| Sikkim | 4 (6) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| North East India | 53 (96) | 94 | 20 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 126 |
East India
| State | Districts that had over 50 mm rainfall at least on one day in Aug 2024 (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 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 200-250 mm | No of district days when Rainfall over 250 mm | Total no of district days when rainfall over 50 mm |
| W Bengal | 17 (23) | 26 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 33 |
| Odisha | 15 (30) | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Jharkhand | 21 (24) | 38 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 45 |
| Bihar | 7 (38) | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 22 (75) | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| East India | 82 (190) | 117 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 132 |
North India
| State/ Union Territory | Districts that had over 50 mm rainfall at least on one day in Aug 2024 (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 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 200-250 mm | No of district days when Rainfall over 250 mm | Total no of district days when rainfall over 50 mm |
| Uttarakhand | 10 (13) | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Haryana | 9 (22) | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Chandigarh | 1 (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Delhi | 7 (9) | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Punjab | 7 (22) | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 8 (12) | 15 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Jammu & Kashmir | 5 (20) | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Ladakh | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| North India | 47 (101) | 74 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 85 |
West India
| State | Districts that had over 50 mm rainfall at least on one day in Aug 2024 (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 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 200-250 mm | No of district days when Rainfall over 250 mm | Total no of district days when rainfall over 50 mm |
| Rajasthan | 30 (33) | 54 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 61 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 38 (52) | 54 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 65 |
| Diu Daman | 2 (3) | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| Gujarat | 29 (33) | 37 | 28 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 78 |
| Goa | 2 (2) | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Maharashtra | 13 (36) | 29 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 |
| Chhattisgarh | 15 (33) | 30 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| West India | 129 (192) | 216 | 60 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 292 |
South India
| State | Districts that had over 50 mm rainfall at least on one day in Aug 2024 (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 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 200-250 mm | No of district days when Rainfall over 250 mm | Total no of district days when rainfall over 50 mm |
| Andhra Pradesh | 12 (26) | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Telangana | 12 (33) | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Tamil Nadu | 6 (38) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Puducherry | 3 (4) | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Karnataka | 5 (31) | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Kerala | 9 (14) | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Lakshadweep | 1 (1) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Andaman & Nicobar | 3 (3) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| South India | 51 (150) | 71 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 82 |
INDIA The table below gives region wise figures for high rainfall days for Aug 2024.
| Region | Districts that had over 50 mm rainfall at least on one day in Aug 2024 (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 mm | No of district days when Rainfall 200-250 mm | No of district days when Rainfall over 250 mm | Total no of district days when rainfall over 50 mm |
| North East | 53 (96) | 94 | 20 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 126 |
| East | 82 (190) | 117 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 132 |
| North | 47 (101) | 74 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 85 |
| West | 129 (192) | 216 | 60 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 292 |
| South | 51 (150) | 71 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 82 |
| INDIA | 362 (729) | 572 | 113 | 19 | 8 | 5 | 717 |
The Month-wise figures for the three months of 2024 SW Monsoon for all India are given below.
| Month | Rainfall, mm | Districts that had over 50 mm rainfall at least on one day in Jun-Aug 2024 (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 mm | No of dist days when rainfall 200-250 mm | No of dist days when rainfall over 250 mm | Total No of Dist Days when rainfall over 50 mm |
| June 2024 | 147.2 | 153 | 309 | 59 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 384 |
| July 2024 | 306.6 | 318 | 730 | 143 | 27 | 7 | 7 | 914 |
| Aug 2024 | 295.2 | 362 | 572 | 113 | 19 | 8 | 5 | 717 |
| JJA 2024 | 749 | 507 (729) | 1611 | 315 | 54 | 19 | 16 | 2015 |
SANDRP (ht.sandrp@gmail.com)
[i] https://sandrp.in/2022/09/01/june-aug-2022-district-wise-rainfall-in-in-indias-sw-monsoon/
SANDRP 