Toward the end of every year, the Northeast Indian Monsoon (NEM) batters southern India with torrents of driving rain, but climatologists have never precisely defined when the monsoon begins and ends.
Toward the end of every year, the Northeast Indian Monsoon (NEM) batters southern India with torrents of driving rain, but climatologists have never precisely defined when the monsoon begins and ends.
Now, Florida State University Professor of Meteorology Vasu Misra has used detailed surface temperature analyses to identify the start and end dates of the NEM season. His work provides an objective and reliable definition that could yield new, actionable insight.
Misra’s method identifies the average onset and demise dates of the NEM season as Nov. 6 and March 13 respectively, a significant departure from prior definitions that tied the monsoon season to the calendar months of October, November and December.
His study was published in the journal Monthly Weather Review.
Read more at Florida State University
Image: A monsoon mist settles over hills in the South Indian state Tamil Nadu during the North East Indian Monsoon season (Credit: Sara Vankm)
