Jamshedpur: Peak monsoon month July ended in Jharkhand on Tuesday with a rain deficit of 23 per cent.

Optimists would say July performed better than June whose rain deficit was 37 per cent. Pessimists would say July 2018 performed miserably compared to July 2017 that was the wettest in five years and ended with a rainfall surplus of 14 per cent.

Met data showed Jharkhand this time recorded 407.6mm rain at July-end, against normal average of 532.2mm. Except for East Singhbhum and Lohardaga, which recorded 14 and 11 per cent surplus, 22 other districts, including Ranchi, showed rain deficit.

Southwest monsoon reached Jharkhand on June 25 after a fortnight's delay. Monsoon currents were weak initially but gained pace after mid-July.

The month saw an average of 14 rain days. Most parts of the state experienced a good spell of rain from July 18. Intensity increased between July 21 and 27 owing to the impact of a low-pressure area over Gangetic Bengal which intensified into depression.

Southwest monsoon was active over Jharkhand during past 24 hours (between 8.30am of Monday to 8.30am of Tuesday). Places including Torpa (Khunti) and Chaibasa (West Singhbhum) recorded over 50mm rain in that time. Ramgarh, Dhanbad and Bokaro recorded around 30mm rain while Simdega, Chandil (Seraikela-Kharsawan), Sahebganj, Latehar, Koderma and Jamshedpur recorded around 10mm each. But, Ranchi and its adjoining areas recorded less than 10mm rain.

But, weathermen held out hope for fairly widespread rain in the next 48 hours, starting Wednesday 8.30am, owing to the impact of a low-pressure area over central parts of Uttar Pradesh and an associated cyclonic circulation extending up to 5.8km above mean sea level. Upendra Srivastava, an assistant meteorologist at Ranchi Meteorological Centre, said another cyclonic circulation extending up to 1.5km above mean sea level over Gangetic West Bengal was likely to advance towards Jharkhand, and trigger rain in August first week.

The axis of the monsoon trough on Tuesday passed through Ferozepur, Ambala, Bareilly, Hazaribagh, Purulia and Digha before meeting east central Bay of Bengal.

"An oscillating monsoon trough will bring good rain to Jharkhand," said a duty officer at the Regional Met Centre at Alipore in Calcutta.

"Another cyclonic circulation is gradually forming over northwest Bay of Bengal off Odisha and Bengal coasts between 5.8km and 7.6km above mean sea level, also likely to result in widespread showers in the next few days."