'El Nino hit Aug rains, will remain strong till Dec'

The El Nino phenomenon that developed in July has remained weak, but has affected rainfall in August due to changes in atmospheric conditions, India Meteorological Department (IMD) director-general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said, adding it will turn moderate in September and remain strong till December.

- Puja Das

Mohapatra said below-normal rainfall is expected in the rest of August as well. In a wide-ranging interview, the IMD chief spoke of rainfall distribution and deficiency, forecast errors and extreme weather events. Edited excerpts:

We have seen deficient rainfall in August after excessive precipitation in July. What is your estimated rainfall departure for August as we are almost at the end of the month?

We are not expecting much rain in the remaining period of August. It will be below-normal precipitation. While presenting the monthly forecast for August, we said it could be 92% long period average when asked, but we do not predict the actual value. Rain in August became below normal as predicted at the beginning of the month, but it became extremely below normal, that is above 30% now.

We have observed uneven rainfall distribution this season, and the East and North-East have suffered. What is your view?