Bhubaneswar: A day after private weather forecaster Skymet predicted “below normal” monsoon in India on account of El Nino conditions, the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) forecast about normal monsoon rains this year on Tuesday eased worries over crop outlook.
“Quantitatively the southwest monsoon seasonal (June to September) rainfall over the country as a whole is likely to be 96 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA) with a model error of +/- 5 per cent,” an official release said.
Skymet, on the other hand, expects the upcoming monsoon to be ‘below normal’ to the tune of 94% ( with an error margin of +/-5%) of the LPA of 868.6mm for the 4- month long period. “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,” said Managing Director, Skymet, Jatin Singh.
IMD Director General (DG) Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said that El Nino conditions are likely to develop during monsoon season and its impact maybe felt in second half. “All El Nino years not bad monsoon years,” he clarified.
The MeT office will issue the updated forecasts week of May 2023, it added.
