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 benchmark index on Wednesday surged 314.92 points or 1.05 per cent to close at 30,248.17 on widespread buying spurred by forecast of a normal monsoon this year.
As many as 12 teams were deployed and five teams were on standby in West Bengal while additional teams are also in readiness if required.
Tourism is badly affected. Entire apple orchards have been washed away. 2 million people are threatened with loss of livelihood.
A red alert has been sounded in three districts of Idukki, Thrissur and Palakkad in Kerala.
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.
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.
Heavy rainfall and high speed wind has badly affected normal life in Bihar in last 24 hours because of cyclonic storm Phailin impact of cyclonic storm. "More heavy rains are expected in Bihar in next 24 hours," a met department official said.
Between June 1 and July 28, about 32 per cent of the 685 districts in the country did not receive adequate rainfall.
The storm would continue to move north-northwestwards, intensify further and reach north Bay of Bengal near West Bengal and the adjoining north Odisha and Bangladesh coasts by the morning of May 26
Data spanning the years 1951 to 2014 show that temperature and pressure conditions at specific locations in the Arctic region during the pre-monsoon period correlate with the Indian summer monsoon rainfall, points out Charu Bahri.
The experts said that climate change is not only raising temperatures and making India's heatwaves hotter, but also changing weather patterns that further drive dangerous weather extremes.
The World Meteorological Organisation/Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Panel on Tropical Cyclones, at its twenty-seventh session held in 2000 in Muscat, Oman, agreed to assign names to the tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.
Taking a lesson from last year's tsunami disaster, sensors are being planted in the seabed to record seismological changes, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Rain or thundershowers have also been predicted in south interior Karnataka and at a few places over Coastal Karnataka and North interior Karnataka.
The CII has suggested a 5-point agenda on the measures that need to be undertaken by central and state governments to stave off the adverse effects of a deficient monsoon. Let's find out what this agenda is. . .
Taking a sceptical view of MUDRA program, Shiv Sena sought to know when the distressed farmers get help and how does the government plan to curb their suicides.
Riding high on the hopes of a normal monsoon, the agriculture ministry aims to increase foodgrain production by 6.35 million tonnes to a record 298.3 million tonnes in the 2020-21 crop year. The foodgrain output in the 2019-20 crop year (July-June) is estimated at an all-time high 291.95 million tonnes, as per the second advance estimates released by the ministry in February.
Officials in the weather department said the monsoon is expected to be below normal because of the El-Nino effect.
According to the Central Water Commission, of the 91 major reservoirs in the country, 62 water bodies reported 80 per cent or below of normal storage.
El Nino is often associated with below average warmer, dry weather across Asia Pacific region.
As the kharif season is setting in, India is scrambling to source fertilisers from the international market. It is set to sign long-term contracts - especially with Morocco and Latin American countries - to ensure steady flow of supplies. "We have to source fertilisers wherever it is available because crops have to be secured.
'How much rain fell on June 16 and 17 is NOT known because the area of Kedarnath is not covered by the Indian Meteorological Department,' M Shashidhar Reddy, vice chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority tells Sheela Bhatt. Because of this, the NDMA will not know "what exactly happened over there, in and around the Kedarnath temple."
An alert of "very heavy" rainfall in Mumbai has been issued by the Indian Meteorological Department's regional centre on Tuesday, with the rains expected to intensify in the next 24 hours.
Despite low casualty figure, the storm left behind a trail of destruction as thousands of people lost their houses.
With the India Meteorological Department declaring 2007 the fourth warmest year on record since 1901, evidence of global warming on the Indian climate is crystallising. The annual mean temperature in the country was recorded 0.55 degree Celsius higher than normal
Cyclonic storm Hudhud will turn take a 'very severe' turn in the next 12 hours, bringing with itself very heavy rainfall and gusty winds as it inches closer to the coast, the MeT department has said.
Several global models are predicting El Nio to appear around the second half of the year, which are the crucial rain-bearing months.
A Regional Meteorological Centre bulletin said a cyclonic circulation is now seen over the Comorin area and its neighbourhood, extending up to mid tropospheric levels.
G P Sharma, President (Meteorology) of the Skymet Weather said the Long Period Average of the rainfall during June to September will be 103 per cent with an error margin of plus or minus 5 per cent.
This piece of forecast from the India Meteorological Department and the European Centre for Medium-Range weather Forecasts may bring cheer to Indian farmers
Heavy rainfall in the upper end of Hati river has affected hydro power generation at Indravati power station.
The three-day meeting between the two commissioners of PCIW completed discussions on all agenda items on Wednesday.
Incessant rains unleashed more death and destruction on Monday in parts of north India, with 37 people killed in landslides and other rain-related incidents in the last two days even as the Army and NDRF teams stepped in to intensify the relief and rescue operations.
The IMD had said the Southwest Monsoon would hit parts of north India including Delhi on July 10, but it had not occurred till Sunday evening.
While weather forecasters remain divided on how the monsoons will play out in India over the next few months, analysts believe the news at the current juncture - at best - can trigger a knee-jerk reaction in the markets. They believe it is too early to say whether the sub-par monsoon on account of El Nino can seriously dent the market sentiment in the short-to-medium term. "These are just initial forecasts and we will have another round / status update from the weather forecasters a month down the line.
At least 42 persons were killed and over 80 seriously injured when a tropical storm ravaged 12 districts of Bihar on Tuesday night, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Wednesday.
Cooler weather meant that demand for milk products and value-added items like buttermilk and ice-cream did not show the usual rise.
IMD expects day temperatures to remain above-normal in select regions across the country between March and May 2021.
The storm is likely to impact Mumbai, Thane and other coastal districts of Maharashtra like Raigad and Palghar along with Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bhavnagar and Bharuch districts of Gujarat and Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Preparations for the impending cyclone were discussed at a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, a home ministry statement said.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances