IMD showers good news; predicts ‘above normal’ rainfall this year

IMD has projected an ‘above normal’ rainfall this year

Providing the much needed respite to people badly affected by drought and sweltering heat across the state, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has projected an ‘above normal’ rainfall this year.

“The rainfall will be 106% of the Long Period Average (LPA) which is considered to be above normal, and there is a 94% probability that monsoon will be from normal to excess. By and large the monsoon will be equitably distributed,” a senior official at the weather office said.

The monsoon is considered normal when the rainfall is 96 to 104% of the Long Period Average (LPA) and is considered above normal when it is 105% to 110% of the LPA.

According to experts, the low rainfall since the past two years was mainly because of El Nino, an irregularly occurring series of climatic changes that causes drought conditions in Asia and East Africa. However, now it has been found that the El Nino weather pattern is gradually fading.