Hyderabad: The monsoon this year will be normal, that is, between 96 and 104 (plus or minus) per cent of Long Period Average (LPA, the average rainfall received by the country as a whole during the south-west monsoon, for a 50-year period), according to a preliminary monsoon report from Skymet, an independent weather forecasting agency.
Last year the country escaped drought conditions by a whisker; the LPA recorded in 2018 was 91 per cent, one per cent higher than the drought margin.
The monsoon season delivers about 70 per cent of India’s annual rainfall and is key to the success of the farming sector in Asia’s third-biggest economy. India defines average or normal rainfall as between 96 per cent and 104 per cent of a 50-year average of 89 cm for the entire four-month season beginning in June.
