Higher monsoon rains than forecast |
India looks likely to receive higher monsoon rainfall than previously forecast as concern over the El Nino weather condition has eased, the chief of the weather office said on May 9, 2017, raising prospects of higher farm and economic growth. India Meteorological Department had on April 18 forecast this year`s monsoon rains at 96 percent of the 50-year average of 89 cm. K.J. Ramesh, director general of India Meteorological Department, says that the things have changed for the good since then. The monsoon delivers about 70 percent of India`s annual rainfall, critical for crops such as rice, cane, corn, cotton and soybeans because nearly half of the country`s farmland lacks irrigation. It adds that it assessed 96 percent based on the climatological conditions up to March. Now, conditions are becoming favourable for an improvement over our April 18 estimate. Australia`s Bureau of Meteorology recently said there were signs of concerns easing over El Nino. El Nino, a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific that typically occurs every few years and was linked to crop damage, fires and flash floods, faded in 2016.
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