Delhi has recorded 8% above-normal rainfall during the current monsoon season despite widespread rainfall deficits across neighboring states.
Reader brief
Through the Reader lens: While northwest India and surrounding states like Haryana and Punjab are experiencing significant rainfall deficits, Delhi has received 8% more rain than its seasonal average. Experts suggest that changing trajectories of low-pressure systems, potentially driven by El Niño and climate change, may have concentrated rainfall in the capital. This anomaly comes as India faces a broader 13% rainfall deficit, raising concerns about potential impacts on national agricultural output.
What to watch next
- Development and peak impact of the predicted record-strength El Niño between late 2026 and early 2027.
- Potential risks to agricultural output due to national monsoon deficits.
- Impact of residual heat in the Pacific Ocean on Indian weather patterns after El Niño begins to weaken.
What was said1
Attributed, verbatim. Every quote is checked against the article it came from. One that does not match is not shown.
Adam Scaife
1 quote“I have never seen an El Niño signal this intense in our forecasts”
In the article
…shape could become the strongest observed since the 1800s. Some projections indicate that sea surface temperatures in the Pacific could rise to more than 3°C above the average by late 2026 or the beginning of 2027. “ I have never seen an El Niño signal this intense in our forecasts ,” Adam Scaife, head of the long-range forecasting division at the UK Met Office, said in a statement on Friday. Garvit Bhirani is a journalist based in Gurugram. He is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint, where…