Ministry of Earth Sciences forecasts normal monsoon for 2023
The Government of India has rejected the claim of private weather agency Skymet Weather regarding monsoon season in India for 2023. On Monday, Skymet Weather had claimed that there would be below normal rainfall this monsoon, which has been rejected outright by the Ministry of Earth Sciences on Tuesday.
What the ministry said
M Ravichandran, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, said India would receive normal rainfall during the southwest monsoon. The ministry says that this year there will be normal rains in South India, East Central India, East India, North-East India and North-West part. However, the ministry says that rains will be less than normal in some areas of north-east India and north-west India. Along with this, less than normal rainfall is expected in some areas of West Central India.
Skymet claims
Earlier, the private weather agency Skymet had said on Monday that the chances of rain in India this year are less than normal. With the end of La Nina, there is a 20 percent chance of drought. El Nino can also dominate. Due to less rains, there may be a crisis on the crops this year. Crops can also become expensive due to this.
Prediction of 20 percent drought
According to Skymet, this year the LPA of 868.6 mm of rainfall in the four months of June, July, August, September will be 94 per cent. Skymet said that the northern and central parts of the country would be deficient in rain. Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra will also receive deficient rains during July and August. In North India, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are likely to receive below normal rainfall in the second half of the year. Skymet had also predicted 20 per cent drought.
What are El Nino and La Nina
The warming of water in the Pacific Ocean near South America, weakening of monsoon winds and less rainfall in India is called El Nino. The cooling of the waters in the Pacific Ocean near South America that favors the Indian monsoon is called La Nina.
