India, Jan. 27 -- Last week this column highlighted that the widespread rain in northern India that began on January 23 as a result of a western disturbance, a storm originating in the Mediterranean region, was ending a prolonged dry spell in most of the region. The length of this spell was among the longest on record for states like Uttarakhand. Now that the dry spell has ended, and another western disturbance has followed the one that brought rain on January 23, it is useful to check how much of the deficit in precipitation has ended. An HT analysis shows that the rain and snowfall last week has decreased the number of states affected by very big deficits, but the road to normal accumulation of both in northern India is still long.

The...