Lokmat News Network (Nagpur)
The rains will be normal this year. It will start raining between June 18 and 25. The rains will be comparatively less in June but will pick up from end-July and continue till October or even for some days in November, predicted Dr Surjyoti Bagchi who has been nicknamed the 'Ant-man' as his predictions are based on the behaviour of weaver ants. A PhD in Chemistry who is employed with a private power plant at Butibori as general manager, Bagchi has been predicting monsoons for the past 25 years. He makes these predictions based on how weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) and crows build their nests on the trees.
This year, he observed nests of weaver ants prepared with leaves on a tree situated in Government Polytechnic here. The shape of the nest is 'samosa' type and enlarged one on medium height trees, indicating that the monsoon will be normal with less quantity in June and middle of July. The rains will pick up from end-July and it will be heavy in August. He also observed nests built by crows at the centre of a tree in the east direction that also indicates normal rainfall. Moreover, a Red-wattled Lapwing bird made its nest at a terrace in Butibori and laid four eggs, indicating normal rainfall or even above normal level.
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Bagchi, whose hobby is to study the behaviour of birds and the way they build nests on trees, has been forecasting rains on the basis of study of direction, shape, height and other aspects of nests. His predictions turned out to be mostly correct for the last 25 years. He said this while talking to Lokmat Times here on Thursday. Last year, Badchi had predicted below normal rainfall that was true till the third week of September. The torrential rains on September 23 which flooded the city took it above normal and were an anomaly. Bagchi found that the birds are disturbed by climate change and global warming. He admitted that due to the LA-Nina effect this year, there will be some effects on the monsoon.
Meanwhile, Dr Mukund Maholkar, PhD (Business Management and Vedang Jyotish), who had predicted through Astrometeorology that monsoon will strike Kerala on May 29, said now as per the planetary position and their speed and relative motions, monsoon will reach Goa and Konkar by June 2, Mumbai by June 5, Vidarbha June 7/8 and Nagpur and east Vidarbya by June 11 to 13. The India Meteorological Department said that monsoon has set in over Kerala and advanced into most parts of Northeast India today.