How Arctic weather may impact monsoon rains in India and affect our farmers

So far, the Indian summer monsoon has been known to be influenced by the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Southern Oscillation, two wind patterns that also interact with each other

While the Indian Meteorological Department has predicted 97% of normal monsoon rains this year, meteorologists at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune are keeping a close eye on unfolding weather conditions at the Arctic Circle–5,000 km away–for their potential to help forecast, and possibly impact, this year’s monsoon.

Data spanning the years 1951 to 2014 show that temperature and pressure conditions at specific locations in the Arctic region during the pre-monsoon period correlate with the Indian summer monsoon rainfall, according to recent research led