Normal Monsoon this year, says India Meteorological Department

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday said "this year, we will witness a normal monsoon", which is very crucial given the nationwide lockdown for more than a month due to ongoing health crisis amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The IMD, in its first stage of Long Range Forecast (LRF) for monsoon, said the Southwest Monsoon season, which is from June to September, rainfall across the country as a whole is likely to be normal. "96 to 100 per cent is considered as normal monsoon. The Long Period Average (LPA) of the season rainfall over the country as a whole for the period 1961-2010 is 88 cm," said the IMD official during an online press conference.

Madhavan Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) said that quantitatively the monsoon rainfall, during the monsoon season 2020, is expected to be 100 per cent of its long period average, with a model error of 5 per cent.

"Good news is that it is estimated that the deficient rainfall will be 9 per cent. This forecast is based on the statistical model... it suggests that we will have a normal monsoon," added the IMD official.

The IMD said that few other global climate models indicate there is a possibility of development of weak La Nina conditions over the Pacific Ocean. "This is during the second half of the season, added the official.