India to experience warmer November amid increasing El Nino conditions, says IMD

Amid strengthening El Nino conditions, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday predicted a warmer November. The weather agency said that above-normal minimum temperatures are expected in most parts of India in November, barring some areas in the northwest and west-central regions.

IMD director general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, at a press conference in New Delhi, said rainfall over the country as a whole in November is most likely to be normal -- 77-123 per cent of the long-period average.

Above-normal rainfall is likely over some areas of the southernmost parts of peninsular India, most parts of northwest India, and many parts of east-central, east and northeast India, Mohapatra added, as per PTI.

Over the Equatorial Pacific Ocean, EI Nino conditions are prevailing and over the Indian Ocean, positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) conditions are prevailing.

The weather department said that the latest global forecasts indicate that the El Nino conditions are likely to continue during the season and positive IOD conditions are likely to weaken during the coming months.

The IMD director general, however, said models suggest that El Nino conditions are unlikely to continue into the next monsoon season.

El Nino conditions -- the warming of waters in the Pacific Ocean near South America -- are associated with weaker monsoon winds and drier conditions in India.

Indian Ocean Dipole is defined as the difference in the sea surface temperatures between the western parts of the Indian Ocean near Africa and the eastern parts of the ocean near Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the IMD on Tuesday also said that northeast monsoon rainfall over the core region of south India in October this year was the sixth lowest since 1901. It also said that data from 1980 to 2022 shows "there is a tendency of delay" in the commencement of northeast monsoon rainfall over Tamil Nadu and its adjoining areas.

"Northeast monsoon rainfall over the core region of south peninsula (comprising five subdivisions of coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, south interior Karnataka and Kerala) in October was the sixth lowest since 1901," Mohapatra said.

(With PTI inputs)

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