‘Normal’ overall monsoon despite ‘slow start’: IMD

Monsoon is likely to have a sluggish start with the country getting “below normal” rainfall in June even as the entire four-month (June-September) rainy season may collectively have “normal” rainfall, showed the latest forecasts of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) released. There is 55% probability of “normal to above normal” rainfall during the season in India.

“Quantitatively, the southwest (summer) monsoon seasonal (June to September) rainfall over the country as a whole is likely to be 96% of the long period average (LPA) with a model error of ± 4%,” said D S Pai, head of the IMD’s Environment Monitoring and Research Center, while releasing stage-II long range forecast carrying prediction on spatial distribution of rainfall.