Wednesday, 4 November 2026 Clear skyNew Delhi 24° New DelhiLondonNew YorkDubaiTokyo
INDEPENDENT THINKING.
SHARED UNDERSTANDING.International edition · Correspondents across India and around the world
RationalTimes●
A little less noise.
A little more perspective. Subscribe
BREAKING
VerifiedNavi Mumbai beckons, or airlines may have to pause VerifiedIs Trump really a ‘lame duck’ after losing both houses of US Congress? VerifiedZelensky awards Melania Trump one of Ukraine's highest honours VerifiedMumbai airport plans to shift all flights on 14 international routes to Navi Mumbai VerifiedSecurity heightened in Guntur district as 13 ZPTC, 193 MPTC go to polls today TechBinance hack: about $6.4bn stolen and $2.7bn frozen, analysts say MarketsChristine Lagarde to step down as ECB president on 7 February 2027 IsraelIsrael: near-final count gives Netanyahu’s bloc 53 seats and Eisenkot’s 48; official results on 4 November ClimateCOP31 climate talks open in Antalya, Türkiye, on 9 November USAmericans vote in the midterm elections on 3 November TechnologyNorth Korea-linked hackers steal about $6.4 billion from Binance in the biggest crypto theft on record, analysts say WorldSpain mourns after a high-speed train ploughs into a stationary train near Toledo, killing at least 68 WorldIsrael’s election ends without a clear winner as exit polls leave both blocs short of a majority WorldSaudi Arabia intercepts Houthi missiles and drones as Egypt’s parliament backs military support
India

India’s monsoon and weather

The monsoon brings India most of its rain in four months, and with it the harvest, the reservoirs — and the floods. Our coverage, the weather now in 60 cities, and how to read the India Meteorological Department’s forecasts.

Updated 4 November 2026
PlaneMad / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Key facts
Season
June to September (the south-west monsoon)
Share of the year’s rain
More than 70%
Normal rainfall
87 cm for the season — the long period average for 1971–2020
Normal onset over Kerala
1 June, give or take about a week
Whole country covered
Normally by 8 July
Withdrawal
Begins from north-west India around 17 September

Latest coverage1 story

Today4 Nov 2026 · all stories that day →

ClimateIndia

How India’s monsoon forecast works

The long period average, the five categories, the dates of onset and withdrawal, and why El Niño matters: reading the India Meteorological Department’s forecasts.

·Rational Times Explainers·2 min read
In numbers

Global temperature anomaly

-0.500.511.5190019251950197520002025Global (land + ocean)-0.500.511.5190019502000Global (land + ocean)

NASA GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP v4), land–ocean index · latest: 2025