-The Business Standard Impact on farm output to depend on distribution of rains The southwest monsoon is likely to be below normal in 2014 because of the evolving El Niño, a warming of the Pacific Ocean that upsets weather patterns across the globe, according to a forecast issued on Tuesday by a leading private meteorological agency, Skymet. The official monsoon forecast by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) is due on April 25. Rain during...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The weather office may have jumped the gun in declaring last week's torrential rainfall in northern India as monsoon showers. Private forecasters say the devastating downpour was a freak pre-monsoon phenomenon that has been followed by dry weather. The India Meteorological Department insists that monsoon rains arrived two weeks early, but private forecaster Skymet says the claim is debatable. It says northern India will get the next...

-The Times of India Early indications look good for this year's monsoon. A week before the India Meteorological Department makes its prediction for the 2013 season, a private weather analytics firm has forecast normal rains in the country, which it said is expected to be 103% of the season's average of 89cm. Private forecaster Skymet said central India is likely to have the least fluctuation from normal through the June-September season, which...