Will cyclone Laila stall the progress of the Indian monsoon which provides four-fifth’s of the country’s rainfall and which will also provide relief from these scorching temperature?
This was the issue of utmost concern for India Meteorology Department (IMD) director-general, Ajit Tyagi who admitted that the formation of a cyclone and cooling of temperature was not a good indicator for the monsoon.
Mr Tyagi ruled out any chance of cyclone Laila becoming a super-cyclone saying, “We are lucky that cyclone Laila did not occur in May-end. It may take a week for the monsoon to regroup and advance further.”
India’s farming population is looking skywards to see what crops to grow especially since the farm output fell substantially when the monsoon failed last year.
Farmers in India, the world’s second-biggest producers of rice and wheat, rely on the rainy season to water their crop as about 60 per cent of arable land is not irrigated.
Senior Met officials confirmed that there will be a temporary weakening of the monsoon as two equally powerful weather systems cannot survive in the same area.
“The next 24 hours will prove crucial. We have to see whether Laila goes to the north or dies itself out. If it goes towards Machliputtnam, it will die out but if it turns and move towards Calcutta, it will cross the Bay of Bengal which will lead to further intensification,” one of the Met department officials said.