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Did you know that India’s annual rainfall figures had crossed the 1400 mm mark only once in the last last 120 years? Did you make efforts to know which was the least rainfall year in the last century?
The Climate Data Service Portal of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has answered your questions by hosting the annual rainfall figures for 1901-2020 on the portal.
The annual rainfall figures crossed 1450 mm mark in 1917. That year the total rainfall stood at 1487.2 mm. Barring 1917, the annual rainfall figures did not cross 1400 mm mark in the last 120 years, though the annual rainfall stood at 1399 mm and 1396.7 mm in 1961 and 1990, respectively.
Lowest rainfall
India registered an all-time low of 936.4 mm rainfall in 2002. The annual rainfall figures in the country remained below 1000 mm on five occasions. The figures stood at 978.5 mm (1905), 941.7 mm (1965), 953.1 mm (1972), 936.4 mm (2002) and 974.9 mm (2009).
Monsoon
Indian monsoon ranges from June to September, and the maximum monsoon rainfall was recorded in 1917. The country witnessed 1098.4 mm of rainfall during the monsoon months that year. Other monsoon peaks were recorded at 1053.7 mm and 1053.5 mm during 1961 and 1988, respectively.
The year 1990 saw a highest pre-monsoon (March to May) rainfall of 205.4 mm, and 1956 saw a highest post-monsoon (October-December) rainfall of 211.2 mm.
The winter season (January-February) of 2005 witnessed a maximum rainfall of 88 mm in the last 120 years.
The maximum rainfall in a month was recorded in July 1988. The country witnessed 376.3 mm of rainfall that year. July, which is also considered as peak monsoon month, recorded a lowest rainfall of 140.3 mm in 2002. In fact, 2002 was also the year when the country witnessed the lowest rainfall figure in 120 years.
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