monsoon

The monsoon rains that are the lifeblood of India's farmers may be unaffected by forecasts of an El Niño weather pattern at mid-year, a top weather official told Reuters. The rains usually arrive around June 1 at Kerala, a state at the southern tip of India, the second-most populous nation in the world, and retreat by September from Rajastan, which borders Pakistan in northern India, some 2,000 kilometers away.

Forecasts call for an above-average monsoon in India but it won't be enough to restore depleted groundwater levels in rural areas after two years of below-normal rainfall, says CNN. The monsoon is not expected until June and for the moment, a heatwave is adding to the misery.