'It is the most prone month for the development of cyclones in the pre-monsoon period.'
The IMD has fancy weather-monitoring radars in the name of providing better forecasts.
Monsoon revival over weekend likely, but second-half rainfall may be muted. If the rains become scarce after mid-August, the standing kharif crops might be impacted
For the second successive year, Monsoon is likely to be below normal with parts of north-west and central India to be the most affected.
The government hopes of registering GDP growth rate ranging between 6.1-6.7 per cent in 2013-14.
Several global models are predicting El Nio to appear around the second half of the year, which are the crucial rain-bearing months.
Drought fears will subside if the momentum generated is maintained in August.
The IMD came out with a dismaying prediction.
IMD director general K J Ramesh said the Met wasn't being conservative and weather patterns indicated that there was a possibility of rainfall being very near to the 50-year LPA of 89 cm.
'We are not saying we are going to face a drought... We are a doing and performing government. A contingency plan is being prepared,' Science Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan tells Rediff.com
Skymet said the monsoon this year could be 100 per cent of the long period average (LPA) with a model error of plus and minus 5 per cent.
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.
The markets will be eyeing the amendments.
Cyclone Biparjoy has left a trail of destruction in Gujarat's Kutch and Saurashtra regions as some 1,000 villages are still without power with hundreds of electric poles getting damaged, while several coastal villages were flooded due to heavy rains and incoming seawater, officials said on Friday, a day after the storm made landfall.
55% of cultivable land still doesn't come under irrigation.
The India Meteorological Department on Tuesday said the monsoon this year is expected to be 'above normal.'
The IMD attributed the projection to a weakening of El Nio and the Indian Ocean Dipole turning positive.
Orissa learnt its lessons from previous cyclones, particularly the 1999 super cyclone, whereas Uttarakhand has failed to do so from any of the previous natural calamities that hit the state, says Dinesh C Sharma.
Pranjul Bhandari, Chief India Economist, HSBC, speaks about a range of issues ranging from inflation, to how Goods and Services Tax and land acquisition bills can help India hit double digit growth, and her impressions about economic growth in the last one year after Narendra Modi took over as India's Prime Minister.
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