Vagaries apart, monsoon is normal

Attempting to put at rest the fears being expressed by citizens over the erratic behaviour of monsoon, Prasad explained that the monsoon so far had been “near normal” and had fulfilled all expectations of weathermen.

A low-pressure area located over the North-West Bay adjoining North-West Orissa and the West Bengal coast with associated cyclonic circulation extending up to 5.8 km above sea level, had the weathermen into a tizzy, especially since this continued to remain almost stationery over the same area till July 21, thus delaying monsoon revival.

However, today it seems to have shown some westward movement, as it now lies as a well-marked low pressure area over the Bihar plateau and adjoining east Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, Prasad observed.

The IMD now expects the system to move westwards gradually and produce rainfall over Vidarbha and Marathwada in the next two days and over north Maharashtra subsequently. Although rain has already hit the Konkan and Goa coast, this is not considered a significant factor.

According to Prasad, except areas of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, some parts of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and interior Karnataka, the other areas in the country have been receiving slight or more rainfall.

However, the rainfall over Maharashtra in a few places has already been revived in a few places such as Vidarbha, and adjoining west Madhya Pradesh during the movement of the low-pressure system and the intensity is likely to increase both in Vidarbha and Marathwada within the next two days.

In reply to a query if the El Nino factor had possibly played a role in delaying the revival of monsoons, Prasad ruled out this possibility, explaining that this was just one of the 16 parameters predicting the extent of rainfall in the country. “There have been instances where monsoons have been good despite the El Nino factor,” he said.