Guwahati: Meghalaya, home to some of the wettest places on Earth, has emerged as one of the starkest examples of the Northeast’s extraordinary southwest monsoon failure this year.
While the Northeast recorded its lowest southwest monsoon rainfall since 1901, Meghalaya received just 1,077.1 mm of rain against its normal 2,695.3 mm — a deficit of 60%, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The figures point to a striking reversal in a region better known for intense monsoon rains than prolonged rainfall shortages.
The IMD said East and Northeast India received 1,017.1 mm during June-September 2026, the lowest seasonal rainfall in its 125-year rainfall series dating back to 1901.
For Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, rainfall remained deficient through all four monsoon months — June, July, August and September.
Meghalaya’s district-level figures reveal just how uneven the season was.
Of the 11 districts for which data were available, seven recorded large deficient rainfall and three deficient rainfall, while only South West Khasi Hills recorded excess rainfall.
West Jaintia Hills suffered the biggest shortfall at 79%, followed by West Khasi Hills at 67%, West Garo Hills and South West Garo Hills at 71% and 70%, respectively. East Jaintia Hills and North Garo Hills were both 66% below normal.
Even the state’s iconic rain belt was hit.
Sohra received 5,277.2 mm of rain against its normal 8,301.1 mm, a deficit of 36%. At Mawsynram, another global rainfall hotspot, 6,169.1 mm was recorded against a normal of 9,338.4 mm — a deficit of 34%.
Nongstoin recorded a 62% deficit, Jowai 66% and Tura 59%.
Yet the rainfall story was not uniformly dry. South West Khasi Hills received 2,727.7 mm, 47% above normal, while Baghmara recorded a 22% surplus.
That sharp contrast is perhaps the defining feature of Meghalaya’s 2026 monsoon: not simply less rain, but highly uneven rain.
The wider Northeast showed the same pattern. September brought episodes of heavy to very heavy rainfall to Assam, but late-season downpours were insufficient to erase the accumulated seasonal deficit.
The rainfall shortage also came against a warmer backdrop. East and Northeast India recorded a mean September temperature of 27.95°C, 0.74°C above normal, making it the sixth-warmest September in the region’s record since 1901.
The national monsoon picture was weaker than normal too. India received 759.4 mm during June-September, the 13th-lowest seasonal rainfall since 1901 and the fourth-lowest since 2001.
But the Northeast’s record stands out because of the region’s dependence on the monsoon for agriculture, water resources, forests and river systems.
The IMD expects rainfall to remain uneven in October. While below-normal rainfall is forecast over much of the country, parts of East India could receive normal to above-normal rainfall.
Most of Northeast India is expected to experience normal maximum temperatures and normal to below-normal minimum temperatures.
For Meghalaya, however, the 2026 monsoon has already left an unusual statistical imprint: even Sohra and Mawsynram had a markedly drier-than-normal monsoon, while neighbouring districts experienced rainfall deficits of more than 70%.
The question now is less about whether Meghalaya is still one of the world’s wettest regions, and more about what increasingly erratic rainfall means for a state whose ecology, farming and water systems have evolved around the monsoon.