Monsoon to be normal this year due to delay in La Nina: IMD

The India Meteorological Department (IMD), differing from its earlier forecast of ‘above normal’ monsoon, has now said that the monsoon will be “normal” this year due to delay in La Nina weather pattern. IMD Director General K J Ramesh said that “The monsoon will be normal this year.”Anything between 96%-104% of the long period average (LPA) is considered as ‘normal’ rainfall, while precipitation in the range of 104%-110% is termed 'above normal'.

Ramesh further said that “The monsoon deficiency is now 5%, but a lot of rains have been taking place in Central India, east coast of Odisha to Gujarat coast, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh since last 4-5 days. Another spell of rains in the same pocket is likely to happen from 21 to 23. So, we are looking at huge rainfall scenario in coming days. There is a good possibility that we will be closer to a normal rainfall scenario.”

The monsoon, which delivers 70% of India’s annual rainfall, is critical for the country’s 263 million farmers and their rice, sugarcane, corn, cotton and soybean crops because nearly half of its farmland lacks irrigation. India has been hit by drought in the last two years, with the last monsoon being affected by El Nino. The activation phase of La Nina, phenomenon associated with cooling of Pacific waters, was supposed to start in August-September. This could have given a boost to the rainfall. But that has got delayed and La Nina could now start in November.