Private weather forecaster Skymet rejects drought forecast in India

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said the southwest monsoon had arrived in Kerala against the normal date of June 1.

"The rainfall over Kerala has been fairly widespread to widespread for the last 48 hours. Out of the 14 rainfall monitoring stations for monsoon onset over Kerala, more than 70% of stations have reported rainfall higher than 2.5 mm for last consecutive two days," IMD said in its statement.

IMD said monsoon has further advanced into entire south Arabian Sea, some parts of Central Arabian Sea, entire Lakshadweep area and Kerala, some parts of Coastal & South Interior Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, remaining parts of southeast Bay of Bengal and some parts of central & northeast Bay of Bengal.

As IMD as predicted a deficient monsoon this year, private weather forecaster Skymet rejected IMD's forecast of likely drought.

Skymet predicted that there would be a good monsoon season this year as the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) phenomenon counters an El Nino weather event.

This should dismiss concerns of farmers who have already been hit hard by unseasonal rains earlier this year.

Skymet, which claims its predictions have been correct for the past three years, forecast rains at 102% of the long-term average over the June-September monsoon season, as against IMD's 88%.

Skymet’s chief meteorologist, G.P. Sharma, said the El Nino threat remains, but the positive IOD effect could prove beneficial.

Skymet said positive IOD creates a barrier in the eastern Indian Ocean and all the southwesterly winds blow towards the Indian sub-continent, causing rains there but leading to droughts in parts of Indonesia and Australia.
Even Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has downplayed fears of a drought.
Meanwhile, the Indian Government prepared on war footing to implement the MNREGA plans so that livelihood of farmer is not affected.

(Image: Indiatimes)