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India has been in a "low period" since the 1990s, so a lower average rainfall forecast was likely. (File)
The meteorological department announced today that it was about to reduce estimates of average monsoon rainfall after decades of below-normal showers, with climate change causing greater variations .
India is grappling with a severe water crisis, as emergency supplies have been sent to Chennai after the drought-stricken town saw only one emergency. only a fraction of the rain that she usually receives in June and July.
The Indian Meteorological Department's climate research director, Sivananda Pai, said the country was in the midst of a multi-decade era characterized by low rainfall.
"If you take on average 30 to 40 years, compared to 100 years of normal rainfall, we experience below-normal rainfall," he told the AFP news agency.
The current average of 89 centimeters (35 inches), he said, is based on the agency's observation from 1951 to 2000. The government agency revises the "normal" baseline "rains every ten years.
India has been in a "low period" since the 1990s, which means that average rainfall has been below normal. A lower average rainfall forecast was likely, Pai said.
"It was around 88 centimeters between 1961 and 2010. When the new standard will be extended to 2020, a further decrease is possible," he added.
In June, precipitation was 112.1 millimeters in India, against an average of 166.9 millimeters, a deficit of 33% according to the meteorological agency.
Mr Pai said that while average rainfall could change over the decades due to natural variability, "we can not ignore the links with climate change".
"Heavy rainfall and long dry spells can be linked to climate change, which is the case around the world," he said.
Unlike the crisis in Chennai, other areas in the north and east of the country are facing severe floods that have killed hundreds of people.
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