Every year, the whole country waits anxiously for the monsoon season to arrive. This year, the monsoon has been different and destructive.
The monsoon started later than usual due to unexpected interactions with cyclones and other weather systems lingering from earlier in the year.
Cyclone Biparjoy formed after the monsoon should have started, delaying the moon onset in Mumbai by two weeks. The monsoon also arrived in Mumbai and Delhi at the same time, which hadn’t happened in more than 50 years.
Before the monsoon started, the India Meteorological Department predicted a deficit of 4%. While this deficit has already been wiped out by heavy rains, the distribution of rainfall remains uneven. Some areas have received excess rainfall, like the northern Western Ghats and Northwest India.
Other areas, including Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra, have received less rainfall than normal.
The impact of climate change on India’s weather has always been a matter of great interest. Our world is now warmer and more humid. Global warming affects our weather, but it’s not the sole cause.
Read more: Explained | North India’s monsoon mayhem is a confluence of factors
Script and voiceover: Vasudevan Mukunth and Shikha Kumari
Production: Shikha Kumari
Voiceover: Sharmada Venkatasubramanian
Published - July 21, 2023 12:53 pm IST
