From Our Special Correspondent
Dry conditions to continue in State: Weather data
New Delhi: As if the extended load shedding was not enough, more bad news awaits the people of Meghalaya – this time from the weather office.
With the ‘El Nino’ factor most likely to affect the Monsoon in the country, the Northeastern region of India would continue to be hit by dry weather conditions prevailing now for some more time, weather reports said.
India as a whole is likely to experience below-average Monsoon rainfall in 2014, the government’s weather office on Thursday said. With temperature already hovering around 40 degrees in the plains areas, most parts of the Northeast including Meghalaya are experiencing heat wave conditions for quite some days now which is unusual in this part of the country.
On Thursday, Tripura capital Agartala registered a record April maximum temperature of 39.4 degree Celsius while Guwahati recorded a maximum (day) temperature of 39.8 degree Celsius. Maximum day temperatues in Shillong has also been hovering above the 28 degree Celsius mark for the past several days.
Tourists from all over the country who normally visit Meghalaya this time of the year have also complained of the unusually hot weather in the “abode of clouds”.
Rainfall is expected to be 88 per cent of the long-term average, with a margin for error of plus or minus 5 per cent during the June-to-September season, according to data released by the India Meteorological Department and Earth System Science Organisation (ESSO).
The Meteorological Department defines average, or normal, rainfall as between 96 and 104 per cent of a 50-year average of 89 cm for the entire season.
During this pre-monsoon season, the eastern and NE regions of the country get rainfall mainly due to thunderstorm activities. But this time, thunderstorm activities over the NE region have remained subdued due to the absence of any favourable weather system, the weather reports said.
“El Nino condition continues to be neutral in the Pacific Ocean but the probability of its occurrence is on the higher side; about 60 per cent,” said a weather office official.
The last time India faced a drought with rainfall below the normal range was in 2009 and prior to that, in 2004 and 2002 – with El Nino hitting the Indian Monsoon season on each occasion.
A strong El Nino, marked by a warming of the sea surface on the Pacific Ocean, can cause severe drought in Australia and Southeast Asia (which includes North East India), while drenching other parts of the world such as the US Midwest and Brazil.
Last year, the Indian Monsoon posted 106 per cent rains, which qualifies as above average year for rainfall, resulting in record grains production at 262 million tonnes.
Deficient Monsoon will negatively impact farm output and economic growth. Nearly half of India’s farmland lacks irrigation and is dependent on Monsoon.
Poor farm output due to deficient Monsoon may drag the already sluggish Indian economic growth and spiral inflation. (With inputs from IANS)