May 2025 turns wet and wild: record rains, rare floods, and farm losses sweep India
May in India is usually a story of blistering sun and relentless heatwaves, but 2025 has rewritten that script in dramatic fashion. Instead of scorching temperatures, this month has brought persistent downpours, thunderstorms, and unseasonal weather to vast swathes of the country a rare and remarkable shift from the norm.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the surprising spell of rain is a result of two powerful factors converging: an earlier-than-usual arrival of southwest monsoon winds and an unusually high frequency of western disturbances (WDs). Between five and seven of these extratropical weather systems which usually affect northwestern India during winter were recorded in May alone, well above average.
This extended activity of WDs into the pre-monsoon se...
