All parts except Northeast may get below-normal rain; govt reiterates assurance on preparations.
With El Nino emerging, forecasts rainfall at 95% of long-period average.
Two persons, including an eight-year-old child, died after being swept away in a flash flood at Mankayam waterfalls in Palode near Thiruvananthapuram, police said on Monday.
Market for localised weather forecasting in India offers immense scope; credibility of data a concern.
Brace for some warmth this winter as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in its December-February forecast on Thursday said that the minimum and maximum temperatures could remain 'normal' to 'above normal' over most parts of Northwest and Northeast India. Both the minimum and maximum will remain below normal in Southern Peninsular and Central India in these winter months. While this could give some respite from the intense cold of North India, it could have a negative impact on the standing rabi crops if the temperature rise is unusual and abnormal.
Very heavy rainfall is likely to occur at one or two places in Kerala on Wednesday.
The Met office has issued a "red" warning for Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and west Rajasthan, stressing the need for "extreme care for vulnerable people".
India's crucial monsoon will be normal this year but with less heavier rains as the weather office on Friday marginally downgraded its earlier forecast.
At the review meeting, chaired by cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba in New Delhi, the IMD said above normal maximum temperatures are likely over most parts of northeast, east and central India and some parts of northwest India.
NCDEX benchmark index up 10% over a month, as expectations on sowing gather pace
Southwest monsoon, the key to the agriculture driven trillion-dollar Indian economy, on Tuesday brought showers to Kerala bringing much-needed relief to farmers.
The IMD projects total rainfall in the June-September monsoon season as being 99 per cent of the long-period average.
Delhi's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 248 on Saturday.
The state, which had been reeling under intense cold wave since a week, got some respite on Thursday as the minimum temperature rose to 4.4 degrees Celsius in capital city Patna while Gaya district recorded 3.4 degree Celsius.
Delhi recorded its second hottest April this year since 1951 with a monthly average maximum temperature of 40.2 degrees Celsius.
As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), which closely monitors the cyclonic storm said, 'The SCS 'Mocha' intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm, lay centred at 05.30 hours IST of 12th May 2023 over central adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal near latitude 13.2N and long 88.1E, about 520 km west-northwest of Port Blair.'
The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative data for the city, recorded a maximum temperature of 40.1 degrees Celsius, which was eight notches more than normal, said Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD's regional forecasting centre.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD), for the first time, officially hinted at a drought-like situation, saying the southwest monsoon over India in 2012 is likely to be deficient at below 90 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA).
All sub-regions have been receiving good rainfall except the North-east and east region of the country, where the deficiency has reached 23 per cent.
The wholesale price index based inflation in June declined to 7.25 per cent from 7.55 per cent in the previous month.
As the southwest monsoon continues to narrow its overall deficit, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday exuded confidence that the dreaded El Nino weather pattern was unlikely to affect monsoon rains this year.
Monsoon will hit the Kerala coast on June 1, setting the stage for the four-month annual rainfall season crucial for India's agriculture-based economy. "The date of onset of the southwest monsoon over Kerala is likely to be on June 1 with a model error of four days," the India Meteorological Department announced on Tuesday.
El Nino, an anomalous rise in sea surface temperature off the Peru coast, has been observed to often cause the Indian monsoon to flounder, resulting in poor rainfall. Nearly 60 per cent of agricultural land is wholly rain-dependent.
Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices cairman Ashok Gulati tells Business Standard that IMD's prediction should be taken with a pinch of salt, as data shows there is usually a deviation of eight-10 per cent from the standard margin of error in many met predictions.
State capital Lucknow shuddered at 0.7 degrees Celsius, while Bahraich recorded a low of 0.2 degrees Celsius.
A powerful earthquake of 7.4 magnitude struck southwestern Pakistan in the small hours of the day, tremors of which were felt in parts of northwestern India, including the national capital.
Any long dry spell could cause moisture stress in the standing crop during the crucial maturing stage and also make it prone to pest and disease attacks.
Operations at the Delhi airport remained normal. However, three flights were returned or diverted to the Delhi airport due to bad weather in Chandigarh, Varanasi and Lucknow on Tuesday night.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a 'Red Alert' and predicted 'very heavy' to 'extremely heavy' rainfall across several districts of Assam till Thursday.
Drought looms as large this year as it did in 2009, even as attempts to play down its impact surface.
According to the IMD, a rain event is categorised as a cloudburst if a weather station receives 100 mm of rain in one hour.
Streets in localities like Hindmata, Dadar, Sion, King's Circle and Wadala are waterlogged. Suburban trains were running slow when reports last came in.
Although the monsoon is not active, it is not sluggish either he said, adding that the eastern coast, central India and north east are getting fairly good rains. Even Maharashtra and parts of peninsula are having rain.
The crucial south-west monsoon is expected to bring its first showers to Kerala on June 3, a slight delay that could be attributed to the cyclone activity over the Bay of Bengal. "Southwest monsoon onset over Kerala is likely to be on June 3," said Chief Monsoon Forecaster, India Meteorological Department D Sivananda Pai.
The drought of 2009 still haunts the India Meteorological Department.
Senior officials of the India Meteorological Department said they were now more confident that El Nino would indeed appear during the second half of the southwest season, compared to April when the last official forecast was made.
The government on Wednesday raised the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy by 5.35 per cent to Rs 2,300 per quintal for the 2024-25 kharif marketing season. The hike in paddy support price comes despite the government sitting on surplus rice stocks, but it is significant ahead of elections in states like Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and Delhi.
Several parts of north and west India reeled under scorching heat wave with the temperature touching 50 degree Celsius in Rajasthan's Churu district on Tuesday, even as the meteorological department predicted very heavy rainfall in Assam and Meghalaya till May 28.
The India Meteorological Department attributed the westerly wind and moisture incursion from the Arabian Sea as the reason behind the spell.
Airfares on major domestic routes from Chennai surged as flight operations at the airport were disrupted due to strong winds and torrential rain that lashed the city in the wake of Cyclone Michaung on Monday. According to ixigo data, on December 5, one-way spot airfares from Chennai to cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Kolkata rose between 52 per cent and 171 per cent compared to prices three to seven days prior. The Chennai-Mumbai route, the busiest flight route from Chennai airport, saw airfares surge 68.6 per cent from Rs 3,728 to Rs 6,286 in the aforementioned period.
