In the just concluded month of June 2026, the first month of India’s South West 2026 monsoon, India received 99.5 mm rainfall, 40% below the normal June rainfall of 165.3 mm as per India Meteorological department. In June 2025, the rainfall was 180 mm, 8.89% above normal, June 2024 the rainfall was 147.2 mm, 11% below normal, June 2023 rainfall was 148.6 mm (10% below normal), in June 2022 the rainfall was 152.3 mm (8% below normal), in June 2021, the rainfall was 182.9 mm (about 11% above normal) and in June 2020, the rainfall was 196.9 mm (about 18% above normal) and in June 2019 it was 33% below normal. So in last seven years from 2019 to 2025, India had below normal rainfall in 4 years in June, and above normal in three years (2020, 2021, 2025). Nine times since 2008 June rainfall was below normal. The June 2026 rainfall is the fifth lowest since 1901, since when the records are available.
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DRP 060726: India needs to improve Rainfall Monitoring?
(Feature Image: A manual rain guage in Syunsal village of Pauri district, Uttarakhand. Bhim Singh Rawat/SANDRP)
Two reports from Karnataka this week highlight that over half of the 6605 rain gauges in Karnataka are non-functional. Earlier we saw that IMD does not even report rainfall for at least 11 districts in Arunachal Pradesh alone, possibly since it does not have adequate number of rain gauges in those newly formed districts of Arunachal Pradesh. IMD’s Annual Report for 2025 says P 59): “IMD operates 1,008 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS), 1,382 Automatic Rain Gauge (ARG) stations, 200 Agro-AWS, 5 Automatic Snow Gauge (ASG) stations”. That comes to 2395 locations where rain or snow is measured by IMD, going by the Annual Report. IMD apparently uses rainfall data from other agencies, but their number is not given in the report. IMD also has a large number of manual rain gauges, but the IMD Annual Report does not provide those numbers.
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Pre Monsoon 2026: District Wise Rainfall in India
In the three month pre monsoon season (March 1 to May 31, 2026) India received 131.3 mm (185.8 mm in Pre-Monsoon 2025, 125.9 mm in Pre-Monsoon 2024, 146.6 mm in Pre Monsoon 2023[i]) rainfall, 0.54% above (42% above normal in Pre-Monsoon 2025, 4% below normal in Pre-Monsoon 2024 and 12% above in Pre Monsoon 2023) the normal rainfall of 130.6 mm as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD). In 2020[ii] , 2021[iii] and 2022[iv] India received 158.5 mm, 155.2 mm and 130.6 or 20% above normal, 18% above normal and 1% below rainfall respectively. So, India has received above normal rainfall in 5 of the last 7 years in Pre-Monsoon season since 2020.
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DRP 040526: NGT acknowledges vacuous Groundwater Governance in India
It is good to see this week that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has acknowledged the non-existent or vacuous groundwater governance in India at both central and state levels. It was long overdue. It took the judiciary almost three decades to realise this, since the Supreme Court order in late 1990s for setting up Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) under the 1986 Environment Protection Act.
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Post Monsoon 2025: District wise Rainfall in India
According to India Meteorological Department[i] (IMD), during the Post Monsoon Rainfall for 2025, that included rainfall during the three Oct-Dec 2025 months, India received 134.2 mm rainfall, 11% above normal (117.4 mm, 3% below normal in Post Monsoon 2024, 110.7 mm, 9% below normal in Post Monsoon 2023[ii], 144.1 mm, 19% above normal in Post Monsoon 2022[iii] and 177.7 mm rainfall, 43.54% above normal in Post Monsoon 2021[iv]) rainfall of 121 mm. In the same period in 2020, India received 124.6 mm rainfall, 0.64% above the normal rainfall. In Post Monsoon season of 2019, India received 160 mm rainfall[v] in this season, 29% above normal, when 2019 was not a La Nina year.
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2025: Dam Induced Urban Floods in India
(Feature Image: The Musi river in flood spate in Hyderabad on Sept 27, 2025 following incessant rains and the lifting of gates at the overflowing Osman Sagar and Himayatsagar reservoirs. Credit: Nagara Gopal )
In 2025, we could find reports on two Indian cities facing the impact of dam induced floods. While the excessive discharges by Himayat Sagar reservoir severely inundated residential areas along Musi river in Hyderabad in last week of Sept 2025, the significant releases by Ukai dam authority into Tapi river affected daily life in Surat city twice in mid Aug and first week of Sept. 2025.
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2025 South West Monsoon in Upper Yamuna Basin
(Feature Image: Screenshot of IMD River basin wise cumulative rainfall map dated 30.09.2025 showing the Yamuna basin)
This report presents monthly rainfall figures during South West (SW) monsoon season 2025 for 16 districts located in 4 states of Himachal Pradesh (3 districts), Uttarakhand (3 districts), Haryana (5 districts), Uttar Pradesh (5 districts) which forms parts of the upper Yamuna basin. The India Meteorological Département (IMD) has divided Delhi in 10 divisions which entirely comes in upper Yamuna basin and the report has rainfall figures for entire Delhi area.
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Bundelkhand: Overview of 2025 Monsoon
Bundelkhand is known as a drought prone region. It is comprised of 7 districts of Uttar Pradesh and 6 districts of Madhya Pradesh. The region is known as drought prone region in recent years. Let us see the situation of 2025 SW Monsoon rain in Bundelkhand.
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SW Monsoon 2025: District wise rainfall in India
In the just concluded South West Monsoon 2025, India received 937.2 mm (934.8 mm in SW Monsoon 2024, 820 mm in SW Monsoon 2023, 925 mm in SW Monsoon 2022[i]) rainfall, about 107.9% (107.6% in 2024, 94.45 % in 2023, 106.5% in 2022) of the Normal SW Monsoon rainfall of 868.6 mm as per India Meteorological Department (IMD). This rainfall is categorised as normal rainfall. The rainfall in SW monsoon 2025 is 5th highest since 2001 and 38th highest since 1901.
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June Aug 2025: District wise rainfall in India’s SW Monsoon
In Aug 2025, India received just 268.8 mm (295.5 mm or 15.8% above normal in Aug 2024[i], 162.7 mm or 36.2% below normal in Aug 2023[ii], 263.8 mm in Aug 2022, 3.5% above the normal[iii]) or 5.45% above normal rainfall of 254.9 mm as per India Meteorological department (IMD). In Aug 2021, the rainfall was 195.9 mm[iv], about 24.13% below normal and in Aug 2020, the rainfall was 327 mm[v], or about 26.6% above normal.
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