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The latest report of India Meteorological Department says that western disturbances continued to dodge the Himalayas, resulting with uneven and low precipitation. December resulted in a deficit of 65%, January had a rain deficit of 91% which is the second lowest since 1901 and February made up for the average deficit bringing it to 33%. There is a continued rise in minimum temperatures, decreasing the diurnal temperature variation between night and day.
Overall the latest phenomenon made February warmer than in previous years. Do you know what could be the reason behind. Here goes the facts revealed by environmental scientists.
According to the environmentalists the oceanic phenomenon of El Niño is the major factor behind this. El Nino is invariably linked with below normal Monsoon, warmer winters and foggy days. Similar weather conditions were witnessed during the month of December, January and February.
You must know that El Niño is known for its truant nature that develops in the Pacific Ocean on average every two to seven years, and typically lasts up to nine to 12 months. An El Niño condition occurs when surface water in the equatorial Pacific becomes warmer than average.
What Experts says
On this phenomenon Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General, India Meteorological Department (IMD), said, "though there is no rule book but if you have El Niño conditions, warm air increases near the tropical region and it pushes the cold air towards the north. Hence, it limits the passage of western disturbances in the Indian region. Due to large-scale features like the El Niño, minimum temperatures were higher-than-normal, making it a warm winter season in the country."
Another aspect that has contributed to the warming is the constant rise in ocean heating. According to a research by IMD, sea surface temperatures (SSTs) of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal are rising and there is strong positive correlation between land surface temperatures and sea surface temperatures suggesting significant contribution of warmer sea waters which may have important climatic implications over neighbouring regions. SSTs in the tropical latitudes have increased and as a response to this increase in ocean water temperature, tropical land surface temperatures as well as tropical tropospheric temperatures have also trended upward.
