Why doesn’t a dry monsoon forecast necessarily mean a hazard-free season?
File: Experts say a dry monsoon does not necessarily rule out floods and landslides. As the monsoon season looms, this year’s weather forecast says most regions will likely have below-average rainfall. On May 4, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology released its weather outlook for the monsoon season ( June-September 2023 ). According to the report, most regions, with the exception of a few areas in the eastern hills and Terai, will have a 35-55 per cent likelihood of below-average rainfall. Additionally, the outlook predicts higher maximum and minimum temperatures during the season, which strongly suggests a hot and dry monsoon . Hydrologist Sudarsan Humagain says the monsoon brings 1472mm of rain to the country on average while the temperature ranges from 29.4 to 21 degrees Celsius. The monsoon season accounts for almost 80 per cent of the total rainfall for the year, according to the New York Times . During the four-month monsoon season, a cert...