Rains miss June 10 date with Nepal

KATHMANDU: Monsoon may take a few more days to arrive, as the rains have missed their normal start date of June 10, according to weather officials.

Had the wind pattern started building up on time, the monsoon would have started today.

After starting on June 10, monsoon then slowly spreads over the country in a few days and remains effective till September 23.

“Cyclone Asoba developed over the Arabian Sea prevented the monsoon precipitation from advancing to Nepal today. We have to wait for three days or four to welcome monsoon showers,” Shanti Kandel, a meteorologist at the Meteorological Forecasting Division, told The Himalayan Times.

According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division, a depression has formed over the east-central Arabian Sea. Under this unfavourable condition, monsoon is likely to be delayed by a few days.

Monsoon onset over Kerala, the southern tip of India, has also been delayed by five days. The scheduled onset date there is June 1.

“Due to the delay in monsoon onset and lack of significant rainfall related activities, the prevailing hot and dry condition, mainly over central and western Nepal, is likely to continue for a few more days. In contrast, temperatures are unlikely to rise significantly over eastern Nepal as sporadic and brief late evening and night thundershower activities are anticipated,” said MFD.

Nepal receives an average of 80 per cent of annual rainfall during the monsoon, which originates in the Bay of Bengal and moves along the southern flanks of the Himalayas, bringing rains to Nepal. The average annual rainfall in Nepal is 1,600 mm, but it varies from place to place. Last year too, the monsoon arrived in Nepal 10 days after the start date, and the country received just 87 per cent of annual average monsoon rainfall, which is below normal, thanks to El Nino effect, a regional weather phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean.

The South Asian Climate Outlook Forum had recently issued its seasonal outlook, predicting below-normal rainfall over large tracts of South Asia, including Nepal, even during this year’s summer monsoon ‘largely because of the weak El Nino conditions established over the Pacific Ocean’.

“These are expected to continue during the monsoon season, impacting on the monsoon performance. Only the southern islands of the Maldives can expect to see above normal rainfall,” it said.