India to see normal rains during southwest monsoon season: IMD

The country can expect normal rainfall during the southwest monsoon season as a positive Indian Ocean Dipole IOD and a lower snow cover over the northern hemisphere are likely to counter the evolving El Nino conditions the India Meteorological Department IMD said on TuesdayThis forecast comes as a relief for the agricultural sector which heavily relies on monsoon rains for crop productionIndia to see normal rainfall during the southwest monsoon season from June to September It is likely to be 96 per cent with an error margin of 5 per cent of the longperiod average of roughly 87 cm M Ravichandran Secretary Ministry of Earth Sciences told a press conference hereThere is a 67per cent probability of normal to abovenormal rainfall said M Mohapatra Director General of Meteorology IMDHe said the snowcovered area over the northern hemisphere and Eurasia was below normal from December 2022 to March 2023Also Read Madhya Pradesh Light rain likely in some districts in next 24 hoursA lower snow cover over the northern hemisphere is considered favourable for the subsequent southwest monsoon rainfall over IndiaIf at all there is any adverse impact due to the evolving El Nino conditions during the monsoon season it is likely to be countered by the favourable impact of a positive IOD and the lower snow cover over the northern hemisphere Mohapatra saidStarting 2019 India has witnessed four consecutive years of normal and abovenormal rains during the monsoon seasonMohapatra said normal to belownormal rainfall is predicted over parts of northwest India westcentral and northeast regions during the southwest monsoon seasonNormal rainfall is likely over many parts of the peninsular region adjoining the eastcentral east northeast areas and some parts of northwest India he saidThe Met department head said El Nino conditions are likely to develop during the monsoon season and its impact may be felt in the second halfHe however added that not all El Nino years are bad monsoon years and that 40 per cent of the El Nino years in the past 19512022 received normal to abovenormal monsoon rainfallSenior meteorologists said positive IOD conditions are likely to develop during the southwest monsoon seasonEl Nino which is the warming of the waters of the Pacific Ocean near South America is associated with weakening of monsoon winds and less rainfall in IndiaThe IOD is defined by the difference in the sea surface temperatures between the western parts of the Indian Ocean near Africa and the eastern parts of the ocean near Indonesia A positive IOD is considered good for the Indian monsoonIndia received 9718 mm of rainfall in the monsoon season in 2019 9614 mm in 2020 8745 mm in 2021 and 9248 mm in 2022 according to the IMDs dataThe country recorded 8041 mm of precipitation in the season in 2018 8459 mm in 2017 8644 mm in 2016 and 7658 mm in 2015Rainfed agriculture is a critical component of Indias agricultural landscape with 52 per cent of the net cultivated area relying on this method This practice accounts for about 40 per cent of the countrys total food production making it a crucial contributor to Indias food security and economic stabilityUnseasonal rains and hailstorms in March damaged rabi crops in large parts of the country causing losses to thousands of farmersThe government however said wheat production was not impacted due to the unseasonal rainsAn early onslaught of heatwaves had impacted wheat production in India last year prompting the country the worlds secondlargest wheat producer to ban wheat exports in MayIn March this year the government said the export ban on wheat will continue as long as the country does not feel comfortable with the domestic supplies to meet its food security needsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever