India will receive below-normal rainfall during August-September, which is the second half of the monsoon season. India Meteorological Department (IMD), in a press conference on Friday, said the cumulative rainfall in July was 283.3 mm making it the 12th lowest since 2001, indicating that the season ranked among the driest in the historical record.IMD said that rainfall over the country in August is likely to be below normal- less than 94% of the Long Period Average (LPA), which is 254.9 mm.“Monthly average maximum temperatures are likely to remain above normal over most parts of the country. However, some areas of Northwest and Central India, along with isolated regions of the Southern Peninsula, are likely to experience normal to below-normal monthly average maximum temperatures,” IMD said in a statement.Director General of Meteorology at the IMD Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said, “As per the met department, July witnessed a substantial improvement in monsoon performance compared to June. The share of districts with normal or better rainfall increased from 30% (224 districts) in June to 53% (388 districts) in July, while deficient and large deficient districts declined from 69% (508 districts) to 46% (344 districts.”The meteorological department said that moderate El Niño conditions currently prevail over the equatorial Pacific Ocean, with sea surface temperature anomalies remaining above normal across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. These conditions are expected to strengthen further during the Southwest Monsoon season.In the monsoon season (June-July), India recorded 389.8 mm of rain against a normal of 445.8 mm of rainfall, thereby recording a deficit of 12.6%.