New Delhi: The indicators for another El Nino weather pattern, bringing with it greater likelihood of drought, are strengthening, Australian broadcaster ABC Radio said in a report on its website, citing the weather office.
“The latest seasonal climate outlook from the Bureau of Meteorology predicts a warmer and drier spring and summer across the country,” said the report.
“We had an El Nino in 2006-2007, then two years of La Nina, then a year of El Nina, then two years of La Nina, so maybe we’re swinging to an El Nino again, and it’s quite unusual to go from El Nino to La Nina and back again, and back again,” Watkins was quoted as having said. “We’ve really only seen a sequence like that in the early to mid 1970s and even back around 1909 to 1918.”
In the last few weeks, weather forecasters around the world, including the India Meterorological Department, have said there is a possibility El Nino may set in and that could result in dry spells in India in the midst of its June-September monsoon season, but this has not been confirmed yet.
India is facing delayed and deficient monsoon rains that have reduced sowing of major Kharif crops from last year. An El Nino could make the situation worse and bring down the crop harvest in October.
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