Private forecasters predict normal monsoon in 2013

Met says too early to predict

Though quite early, some private forecasters have expressed the possibility of a normal southwest monsoon in 2013 because of initial favourable global weather patterns.

“There is 80% chance of a normal southwest monsoon this year as the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has so far been neutral this year,” Jatin Singh, Founder and CEO of Skymet weather services told Business Standard.

El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is one of the factors that have a direct bearing on India’s southwest monsoon. Singh said that in the last 112 years, only in five years a drought-like condition prevailed despite ENSO neutral condition.

“In the last time drought-like conditions happened despite ENSO neutral condition was in 1979, before that in 1974, 1968, 1920 and 1901. So, there is a reasonable chance that India might have a near-normal southwest monsoon this year,” Singh said.

The Bureau Of Meteorology in Australia too in its latest report said that El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) indicators in the tropical Pacific remain at neutral levels. “Current observations and model predictions indicate this neutral pattern is likely to continue into the southern hemisphere autumn as well,” the bureau said.

A clearer indication of Pacific Ocean conditions for 2013 will emerge over the next few months, the Bureau said.“The weather patterns are now in a transition mode and a much clearer picture will only emerge around April,” Singh said.

Director General of India Meteorological Department, L.F. Rathore, however said that it too early to make any prediction about the southwest monsoon in 2013, based on some global factors.

“ENSO is just one of many factors that have an impact on Indian southwest monsoon, hence it will be too early to make any judgment based on that,” Rathore said. “The final picture will emerge only around April,” D. Sivananda Pai, also of IMD said.

The met office is expected to release its first official forecast of 2013 southwest monsoon only around April.

The rains, which will be the key factor in determining how the agrarian economy fares in 2013-14 financial year, has been slightly less than normal in 2012.

Last year, though the rains began on a brisk note, it lost momentum during the middle part of the four-month southwest monsoon season that starts from June. It again gained pace during the later half of the season.

The break in rains from end June to July impacted kharif foodgrains production. According to  government estimates, India’s overall foodgrains output is expected to be around 250-255 million tonnes in 2012-13, down from last year’s record output of 259 million tonnes.