After relatively oppressive heat and humidity, Delhi, especially South Delhi, finally received heavy showers that cooled down one’s senses and made the birds sing.

But wait. India Meteorological Department (IMD) has NOT yet declared that monsoon has reached Delhi. And so, the wait continues.

Till then, do you remember my question in the last post? What can possibly disturb a good monsoon rainfall? And the hint was - ‘child’!

There is something called El Nino phenomenon, which was first recognized by Peruvian fishermen off the coast of Peru as the appearance of warm water around Christmas time in the 17th century. They named it, in Spanish, as El Nino, meaning ‘the little boy’. And then, there is another phenomenon, which works exactly opposite. It is called La Nina.

Both El Nino and La Nina are complex weather patterns resulting from variations in ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific region. El Nino is when the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean occurs while La Nina, the “cool phase” of El Nino Southern Oscillations (ENSO), is a pattern that describes the unusual cooling of the tropical eastern Pacific. Scientists tell us that El Nino occurs more frequently than La Nina. ENSO is, to explain simply, a phenomenon involving atmospheric and ocean conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean region that leads to periodic variations between less than normal and above normal sea surface temperatures, which in turn, leads to dry and wet conditions over few years.

IMD has mentioned in its Long-Range Forecast for Monsoon 2021 forecast in April as it said, there is also little chance of the development of warming El Nino.

Image credit: Rain @ Vijay Chowk, Delhi (PTI file image)

---- to be continued