AT Photo (Representational Image): The IMD predicts a warm November
Guwahati, Nov. 2: India experienced its warmest October since 1901 with mean temperature recording 1.23 degrees Celsius above normal, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday. It predicted a warmer November, highlighting no indication of winter.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, the Director General of the IMD, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, attributed the warmer weather to the absence of western disturbances and the influx of easterly winds due to active low-pressure systems in the Bay of Bengal.
The mean temperature in October was recorded at 26.92 degrees Celsius, the warmest since 1901, against the normal of 25.69 degrees Celsius, according to Mohapatra. Additionally, the minimum temperature had 21.85 degrees Celsius against the normal of 20.01 degrees Celsius for the country as a whole.
The IMD Director General highlighted that the north westerly winds are required in north India for lower temperatures; adding that the prevalent monsoonal flow does not allow the fall in temperatures.
He said the temperatures will continue to remain 2-5 degrees above normal in the north-western plains at least for the next two weeks, before a gradual decline towards normalcy takes place.
Mohapatra said that the IMD does not consider November as a winter month. While January and February are considered as winter months, hints of the cold weather are observed in the month of December.
The delay in the onset of cold weather could also be on account of the continued prevalence of neutral El Nino conditions in the Pacific Ocean.
The weather office said the probability forecast indicates a higher chance of La Nina conditions developing during November-December in a gradual manner.
"ENSO (El Nino-Southern Oscillation) conditions are slowly evolving towards the negative side and La Nina can set in by December," Mohapatra said, acknowledging that the weather forecasting agencies the world over have got their El Nino forecasts wrong this year.
- with inputs from the PTI
