How changing monsoon 'normal' is likely to affect the farm calendar

Prompted by a rising visible impact of climate change on the variability of Indian monsoon, IMD is in the process of revising the monsoon onset and withdrawal dates

With July ending, the 2019 edition of southwest monsoon is nearly halfway through. But showers across the country have disappointed again this time, as they have at least twice in five recent years. At the time of writing, actual rainfall this year had been only 80 per cent of the “normal” amount of rainfall India should have experienced to date.

The reason, according to most meteorologists, is that the monsoon wind arrived late this time. Against the normal date of “onset” at the coast of Kerala, June 1, monsoon rains arrived in the coastal state on June 8. Similarly, monsoon came