South comfort: Rain report alright so far

Meteorological Department (IMD).

Some favourable factors include significant cross equatorial flow, strong westerlies and a water vapour increase over the Arabian Sea. With the onset of monsoon, the Agriculture Ministry has advised farmers to complete sowing of Jowar (Sorghum) by the first week of July, immediately after the first soaking rains of the monsoon. July is the sowing period for kharif crops.

Meanwhile, northern parts of the country experienced heat wave conditions. According to the IMD, a severe heat wave condition prevailed over parts of Rajasthan and heat wave conditions over parts of interior Maharashtra, Telangana, South Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.

According to the IMD, there is a trough in the lower levels, off the South Karnataka-Kerala coast.

The IMD has also forecast that rainfall over coastal Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep will continue.

Meanwhile, the department is celebrating that it got the prediction right. It had predicted that the southwest monsoon would hit the Kerala coast on June 7, with a margin of plus or minus three days.

The CSIR’s Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation (C-MMACS), which looks primarily at the methodology, has predicted a 34 per cent-deficit rainfall for June.

Experimental forecast for August indicates an overall excess rainfall by 13 per cent and a 12 per cent-deficit rainfall in the first three weeks of July for the country as a whole. The IMD will release its second monsoon forecast by the end of June.

Pune puts off cloud seeding

This year, the rainmakers may be absent. With no global tenders and multi-crore budget from the Government, cloud seeding is not hot on the agenda. Last year during this period, an all-American crew from Weather Modification Inc was here, with a Rs. 18.2 crore budget for the project. This time, says V.M. Kulkarni, deputy secretary with the Irrigation Dept, signs are good for unaided rainfall. “We’ve not yet considered launching a cloud seeding project. The rains last year weregood, so most reservoirs and tanks are well off.