Chandigarh: Chandigarh received 300.6mm of rainfall in July this year, making it the wettest July since 2023 and bringing relief after two consecutive years of below-normal monsoon rainfall. The city recorded 10% more rain than its long-period average of 273.2mm, placing the month in the “normal” rainfall category despite the positive departure.Data released by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday showed that July 2026 ended with 300.6mm rainfall, significantly higher than the 184.8mm recorded in July 2025 and 178.2mm in July 2024. The last time the city witnessed a wetter July was in 2023, when it received an exceptional 760.7mm rainfall during a season marked by widespread flooding across the region.The figures also show that this year’s rainfall surpassed several recent years, including 2020 (277.1mm), 2018 (263.6mm) and 2015 (257.9mm), though it remained well below the extreme rainfall totals recorded in 2022 (463.1mm) and 2023 (760.7mm).Besides receiving healthy rainfall, Chandigarh experienced relatively moderate temperatures through the month. The highest maximum temperature recorded at the city observatory was 38 degrees Celsius on July 17, while the average maximum temperature stood at 34.8 degrees Celsius. The lowest minimum temperature was 22.2 degrees Celsius on July 10, with the average minimum temperature settling at 25.6 degrees Celsius.At the Chandigarh observatory, the total monthly rainfall measured 339.1mm, with the highest single-day rainfall of 92.3mm recorded on July 10. At the airport observatory, monthly rainfall stood at 140.2mm, while the highest daily rainfall there was 84mm, also recorded on July 10.The IMD data indicates that after back-to-back deficient Julys in 2024 and 2025, this year’s monsoon has returned to near-normal levels, with rainfall exceeding the climatological average by 10%.
