The strongest El Niño in 2015 on record has wreaked havoc over several parts of the world. The weather phenomenon has affected the weather patterns across the globe. While El Niño does play spoilsport for the Indian Monsoon, several areas in the United States and adjoining regions have also witnessed severe flooding.
While the Southwest Monsoon suffers enough, the Northeast Monsoon usually is good. The five states of South India that receive rain during the Northeast Monsoon are the beneficiaries. Also, mild and dry winters are one of the characteristics of an El Niño year.
This time, while Pre-Monsoon rains have been on the drier side in several parts of India, Northeast India have been witnessing heavy rains in abundance. The adverse effects of El Niño in the form of surplus rain is being observed in the Northeast region of India.
Not only has the region observed record-breaking rains this April, but the first wave of Assam floods have also hit quite early this year. Usually, flooding occurs during the Monsoon season. Areas including Cherrapunji, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Silchar, North Lakhimpur, and Tezpur have observed more rain than usual.
A similar situation was observed in the year 2010 during the Pre-Monsoon season. As the year 2009 had also witnessed one of the strongest El Niño on record, Northeast India was affected by heavy rains that year as well.
Let’s take a look at the rainfall figures for Northeast India in April for the years 2010 and 2016.
Northeast India will continue to receive good Pre-Monsoon showers of varying intensity even during the month of May. In fact, above normal rains are likely to occur keeping temperatures under check.
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