The Hindu : Monsoon gaining momentum

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 13, 2003

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Monsoon gaining momentum

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI June 12. Here is some good news on the monsoon front.

The rainfall activity under the influence of the Arabian Sea is likely to spread to interior parts of the peninsula in the next few days, after being mainly confined to the area along the west coast since its onset over Kerala earlier this week.

According to experts at the India Meteorological Department, there were some indications today that the speed of the winds were steadily picking up and the expectation was that the monsoon could witness a significant surge by the first half of next week.

The wind speed had so far been hovering around 20 knots, whereas normally during monsoon the wind speeds are in the range of 30 knots.

Consequently, not only there was a delay of a week in its onset, the monsoon had also not advanced to the expected extent.

With the possibility of a surge in the offing, the situation could improve significantly next week, the experts added.

They are, however, keeping their fingers crossed as the winds are picking up speed quite slowly.

"We are optimistic. But, at the same time, would prefer to be cautious as anything could happen.

``Usually, a slow build up means that it would be a sustained process. But, one can not be too sure. The picture is likely to become clear by Monday'', an expert said.

Meanwhile, sources in the Union Agriculture Ministry said that though land preparations and other activities that are taken up before the actual sowing of the crops are yet to commence in many areas because of the absence of pre-monsoon showers, it may not have much impact in terms of the over-all production during the season if there was a good rainfall in the coming weeks and months.

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