The monsoon missed its onset date in Kerala on Sunday with the India Meteorological Department anticipating a further delay of three to four days. The southwest monsoon normally sets in over Kerala on June 1 with a standard deviation of about seven days. In mid May, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said it might arrive in Kerala by June 4. In a statement on Sunday, the IMD said, "Conditions (are) becoming favourable with the increase in westerly winds over the south Arabian Sea. Also, the depth of westerly winds is gradually increasing and today, June 4, the depth of westerlies has reached up to 2.1 kilometres above the mean sea level. "The cloud mass over the southeast Arabian sea is also increasing. We expect that these favourable conditions for monsoon onset over Kerala will further improve during the next three-four days. It is being monitored continuously and further updates will be provided tomorrow (Monday)." Scientists, however, said the delay is unlikely to impac
Ahead of the arrival of the monsoon in the southern state, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday issued a slew of directions, like procuring rescue equipment, storing it locally and cleaning out drainage systems in cities prone to waterlogging, to ensure safety of people during the rainy season. The directions for intensifying the preparations for the monsoon were issued by the Chief Minister in a meeting of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA). The meeting was held after the Central Meteorological Department announced that the monsoon is expected to hit the state by June 4. Vijayan directed the officials that a review of monsoon preparedness should be conducted in each district of the state in the first week of June, July, August and September in view of the unpredictable nature of the rains, a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office said. The Chief Minister said that procuring and storing the rescue equipment locally would help civil, defence and oth
One big change in India's drought management is in the IMD's parlance
IMD will come out with its region-wise forecast for later this month
Citizens in Mumbai will receive weather updates on their mobile phones through SMSes during monsoon, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Tuesday. "An SMS alert will be sent to citizens during an emergency," the BMC said. BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Tuesday chaired a meeting with various agencies on disaster management as monsoon preparedness. Officials of BEST, MMRDA, MSRDC, PWD, Mumbai Metro, Railways, NDRF, IMD, MHADA and other agencies along with the civic officials attended the meeting. The District Disaster Management Department has set up a control room to provide timely alerts about weather conditions and it has a mechanism to provide real-time weather alerts. Chahal directed all departments and agencies to expedite coordination to mitigate the possible challenges during the monsoon, the release said. For the smooth operation of suburban trains, which are used by more than 70 lakh people daily, Chahal directed the BMC's garden department to comp
Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi on Friday held a high-level meeting on the city's monsoon preparedness and asked officials to identify areas where there is frequent waterlogging during the rainy season. To ensure effective implementation of proposed plans, regular meetings will be organised on this subject twice a month, she said. With the aim of ensuring safety and convenience of citizens during heavy rainfall, the meeting focused on addressing the issue of waterlogging in several areas of the city, her office said in a statement. During the meeting, Oberoi emphasised on the importance of identifying areas prone to frequent waterlogging. Places such as Rani Khera, Bakkarwala, Najafgarh, Narela, and Mehrauli were highlighted as being particularly susceptible to water accumulation, it said. In light of this, the mayor emphasised the need for special planning and targeted measures to mitigate the impact of waterlogging in these areas. She also instructed officers to work in coordination w
CHASING THE CLOUDS: Timeliness, distribution, and spread of this complex weather pattern are critical to farm output and economic growth
Their timeliness, distribution and spread are of vital importance for Indian agriculture
Spread of rain is more important than total precipitation
Developments such as Covid-induced lockdowns and the Russia-Ukraine war have also played a crucial role in keeping the inflation rate elevated
With the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting a normal monsoon this year despite El Nino concerns, experts say an El Nino that follows a La Nina year tends to result in a significant rainfall deficit. The evolving El Nino conditions this year follow three consecutive La Nina years. La Nina, which is the opposite of El Nino, typically brings good rainfall during the monsoon season. The IMD on Tuesday predicted normal rainfall (96 per cent of the long-period average of 87 cm) in the country during the southwest monsoon season which be of great relief for the agriculture sector. The IMD forecast came just a day after private agency Skymet Weather predicted "below-normal" monsoon rains (94 per cent of the long-period average) owing to the evolving El Nino conditions, which are generally associated with the weakening of monsoon winds and dry weather in India. Raghu Murtugudde, visiting professor, Earth System Scientist at IIT Bombay and Emeritus Professor at University of .
Experts say that the volume of rainfall, its timing and dispersion will crucially influence crop sowing, output and prices
India is expected to see a normal monsoon this year with a long-period average (LPA) of 96 per cent between June and September, says IMD
Private weather forecaster warns about the effect of El Nino phenomenon
Skymet said that there is a 0% chance of excess rainfall in the upcoming monsoon season
However, softening prices of inputs such as steel and pig iron will provide a 100-200 basis points (bps) respite to the operating margin of tractor makers
The southwest monsoon withdrew from the entire country on Sunday, a week later than normal, the weather office said. India witnessed a normal monsoon season for the fourth consecutive year with 925 mm rainfall which was 106 per cent of the long-period average (LPA) of 880 mm. "The Southwest Monsoon has withdrawn from the remaining parts of the country today, October 23, 2022," the India Meteorological Department said on Sunday. A late surge by the monsoon in September helped cut the large deficit in rainfall in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and the northeast, but not before impacting the main paddy crop in some states. Rains continued to linger on beyond September 30, which marks the end of the southwest monsoon season, mainly due to two cyclonic circulations active over Madhya Pradesh and south Gujarat and its interaction with the mid-latitude weather systems, which brought rains to parts of north-west and central India in October. IMD statistics show that post-mon
CPI-inflation for the month of September surged to a five-month high of 7.4 per cent largely due to a spike in food inflation which jumped to a 22-month high of 8.6 per cent for the same period
Marathwada has already received 840 millimetres of rain this monsoon, or 123.62 per cent of the region's annual average rainfall of 679 millimetre
Ground reports show much of the paddy is yet to be harvested in North India due to the delayed withdrawal of the southwest monsoon