News: New research shows that dry desert winds blowing from the west and northwest of India can help predict monsoon break periods, offering an early warning system for farmers. These breaks, marked by reduced rainfall during the Southwest Monsoon, can seriously affect agricultural production.
About Monsoon Breaks
- About: During the south-west monsoon period, after having rains for a few days if rain fails to occur for one or more weeks, it is known as Monsoon break.
- These dry spells are quite common during the rainy season.
- Reasons for Monsoon Breaks: Monsoon breaks occur due to the shifting movement of the monsoon trough during the Southwest Monsoon.
- The trough and its axis move northward or southward for various reasons, which changes the distribution of rainfall across India.
- When the axis of the trough lies over the plains, these regions receive good rainfall, but when it shifts toward the foothills of the Himalayas, dry spells occur in the plains.
- The frequency and intensity of tropical depressions forming over the Bay of Bengal also influence the amount and duration of monsoon rainfall.
- These tropical depressions follow the axis of the monsoon trough, and their variation causes irregular wet and dry spells.
