Rainfall during the June-September South-WestMonsoon season is expected to be 98 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA),the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
LPA of southwest Monsoon rainfallaveraged over the country as a whole is 89 cm. It is the mean of rainfall between1941 and 1990.
The forecast has a model error of fiveper cent.
The forecast for better rains this seasonscomes after India witnessed one of the worst droughts in recent times when themonsoon had failed last year.
A normal monsoon is necessary to powerthe Indian economy as over 235 million people depend on agriculture for livelihood.
Last month, Geneva-based WorldMeteorological Organisation (WMO) said El Nino had peaked, but was expected toinfluence climate patterns up to mid-year before dying out.
El Nino, a key parameter in monsoonprediction, is an occasional seasonal warming of the central and easternPacific Ocean that upsets normal weather patterns from the western seaboard ofLatin America to east Africa.
