Not all El Nino weather conditions cause monsoon failure

As the entire country is grappling with a prolonged dry spell due to the delay in the monsoon, an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that not all El Nino weather conditions cause monsoon failure.

An El Nino, which means "little boy" in Spanish, is driven by an abnormal warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean, and creates havoc in weather patterns across the Asia-Pacific region.

A B Mazumdar, Deputy Director General, IMD, said that there is no direct link between the El Nino and delayed monsoon.

"Our studies show that while in many El Nino years, monsoon activity was subdued, at the same time monsoon didn't fail completely in our country in other El Nino years. So that's the reason why we cannot draw a direct relationship between the El Nino and monsoon like in some countries like Australia," said Mazumdar.

India's monsoon will remain weak according to the latest Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) index, which gauges the eastward progress of tropical rain.

The monsoon is crucial for summer-sown (Kharif) crops and most of marginal farmers rely solely on the rains.

El Nino Not Affecting India's Monsoon, Say Meterologists

India is grappling with a prolonged dry spell, due to the delayed monsoon rains. But meterologists are saying that the lack of monsoon rains can't be blamed on El Nino.

The El Nino phenomenon is driven by an abnormal warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean, and creates havoc in weather patterns across the Asia-Pacific region.

Meteorologists say that there is no direct link between the El Nino and delayed monsoons.

[A B Mazumdar, India Meteorological Department]:
"Our studies show that while in many El Nino years, monsoon activity was subdued, at the same time the monsoon didn't fail completely in our country. So that's the reason why we cannot draw a direct relationship between El Nino and monsoons like in some countries such as Australia."

India, one of the world's biggest producers and consumer of everything from sugar to soybeans, is already experiencing a weaker annual monsoon. Its faltering sugar crop has driven world prices of the commodity to their highest in three years.

India's monsoon will remain weak according to the latest MJO index, which gauges the eastward progress of tropical rain.

The monsoon is crucial for summer-sown crops and most of India's marginal farmers rely solely on the rains.

Two-thirds of the country's population depends on rain-fed agriculture because they don't have modern irrigation facilities.

Incessant rain in coastal Malnad, south interior Karnataka and Belgaum over the past six days has claimed 12 lives

Expect a 2 or 3 day LULL in monsoon rains all thru India except central and North-west India.

Latest sat.pic:: Rain over North rajasthan, M.P, Jharkand and Orissa. Rain intensity has died over west coast. http://ping.fm/rge9J

Chennai - After a warm day yesterday, today also we are going to have clear skies and chance of mild shower after 5 pm.

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