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.
Incessant showers caused landslides and floods in various parts of the country leaving at least 17 people dead on Wednesday while thousands more were forced to move to safety as rivers swelled and water reservoirs filled up fast.
'There's also a possibility of the cyclonic system changing its course, thus avoiding a landfall in Odisha'
The weather system over the South Andaman Sea and the adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal is very likely to move north-westwards and strengthen into a depression by Saturday, the Met Department said.
Agriculture activity, according to recent channel checks by Prabhudas Lilladher, is expected to continue at a strong pace in FY22.
The weather department said its latest model analysis had indicated that the moist easterly winds in the lower level from the Bay of Bengal would spread to northwest India, covering Punjab and Haryana by July 10, leading to the advancement of monsoon and an increase in rainfall activity over the region, including Delhi, from July 10 onwards.
The southwest monsoon which reached the country on May 30 well within its normal onset date
An alert has been sounded by the Delhi government after the water level of Yamuna river crossed the danger mark, an official said.
The finance ministry on Thursday raised concerns over the possible impact of El Nio conditions on India this year, saying if recent forecasts came true, the country could see lower agricultural output and higher inflation. "Some meteorological agencies predict the return of El Nio conditions in India this year. "If these predictions are accurate, then monsoon rains could be deficient, leading to lower agricultural output and higher prices," the ministry said in its monthly economic review.
Flight operations at the Mumbai airport were suspended for nearly half an hour as visibility dropped well below the required 550 meter-mark
Skymet is the first major Indian weather forecasting agency to have issued a monsoon forecast for 2016.
The IMD director said, the cyclonic storm Tauktae in the Arabian sea is moving away from the Kerala coast and is now approaching the Karnataka coast.
The IMD has forecast heavy rainfall in some parts of the state in next 48 hours. "The southwest monsoon has arrived in Maharashtra. The onset line is passing over Harnai, Solapur, Ramagundum (Telangana) and Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh)," IMD Mumbai centre's deputy director general K S Hosalikar said.
The Santacruz observatory recorded 286.4 mm rainfall during the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Wednesday, making it the fourth highest rainfall in Mumbai since 1974, an Indian Meteorological Department official said.
Over 40 people died in rain-related incidents, majority of them in Uttar Pradesh, while incessant rainfall in Bihar left the streets of state capital Patna and other areas waterlogged and residences of at least two ministers marooned.
Delhi saw seven cold wave days in January 2020, while it did not record any such day last year.
The prime minister also asserted that in view of the COVID-19 situation, the states must ensure that people follow all health precautions such as wearing of face masks, hand sanitisation and maintaining an adequate physical distance with each other while undertaking rescue efforts.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Ayanagar weather station recorded 99.2 mm rainfall, the maximum in the city, during the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Thursday.
June 1 is the official onset date of monsoon in India when it hits Kerala.
With El Nino emerging, forecasts rainfall at 95% of long-period average.
Retail inflation fell to a 15-month low of 5.66 per cent in March, mainly due to a decline in food prices, government data showed on Wednesday. The inflation figure in March is within the RBI's comfort zone as it is below 6 per cent. The retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 6.44 per cent in February 2023 and 6.95 per cent in the year-ago period.
An IMD bulletin said the low pressure area could intensify into a cyclonic storm, triggering heavy to very heavy rainfall in several parts of Kerala.
'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
The growth in the contact-intensive portion of the economy trailed our expectation, highlighting how imperative it is for confidence to improve, either through accelerated vaccinations or otherwise, to drive a sustainable recovery in these sectors, asserts Aditi Nayar.
However, flight operations at the Mumbai airport were not impacted due to rains, an airport official said.
The cyclone made landfall in Raigad district on Wednesday afternoon, blowing in from the Arabian sea, with an intensity of severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds of 100-110 kmph peaking at 120 kmph. But it spared Mumbai, the country's financial capital which is already struggling to cope up with the coronavirus pandemic.
The system moved north-northeastwards at 20 kmph in the last six hours and is over west-central Bay of Bengal, 90 km from Gopalpur, 120 km from Puri and 210 km from Paradip, the weather office said in its 11.30 am bulletin.
Rain or thundershowers have also been predicted in south interior Karnataka and at a few places over Coastal Karnataka and North interior Karnataka.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced Rs 10,000 as immediate relief to each flood-hit household in Hyderabad, lashed by incessant rains since last week, besides an assistance of Rs 1 lakh each to those whose houses were completely destroyed and Rs 50,000 for the partially damaged.
If El Nino condition affects the monsoons, as is being forecast by foreign agencies, it can slow down the economy to 5.2 per cent next fiscal from a projected 6 per cent.
Heavy overnight rains lashing the metropolis submerged many low-lying localities today even as the weatherman forecast heavy rainfall in the districts of Gangetic West Bengal.
A below-normal monsoon is likely to drag down the food output with India's agricultural GDP growth likely to slump to 0.8 pc in the current fiscal, says a report by the Japanese brokerage firm Nomura.
The untimely Mumbai monsoon threatens to play spoilsport as there is a fair chance of first day's play being affected by rain during the second Test between India and New Zealand, starting on Friday.
LIVE! Incessant rains: Red Alert in 5 Kerala districts
Moderate to heavy showers will continue over Mumbai for next 48 hours.
'Urbanisation results in heavy rainfall events.'
A number of significant linkages between rainfall and economic outcomes have policy implications.
The cyclone lay about 720 km east northeast of Chennai over the Bay on Monday and it is very likely to move west southwestwards and intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm by Tuesday.
55% of cultivable land still doesn't come under irrigation.
The IMD DG said there should not be an impression that climate change leads to rise in the temperature, but on the contrary, it leads to erratic weather.
