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 Tuesday, according to a PTI report.

This forecast comes as a relief for the agricultural sector, which heavily relies on monsoon rains for crop production.

"India 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 long-period average of roughly 87 cm," M Ravichandran, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, told a press conference here, stated the PTI report.

Earlier, a Reuters report dated April 10, 2023 stated, "India is likely to get "below normal" monsoon rains in 2023 with increasing possibility of El-Nino, which typically brings dry weather Asia, private weather forecasting agency Skymet said on Monday."
According to the Reuters report, "Likelihood of El Nino is increasing and its probability to become a dominant category during the monsoon is growing large. El Nino return may presage a weaker monsoon," Jatin Singh, managing director, Skymet said in a statement.