The unusual heat wave in May, followed by the delay in the monsoon by a week, is a definite manifestation of climate change, Union Minister for Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan said on Wednesday.

Announcing the likelihood of a deficient southwest monsoon this year, Mr. Vardhan said the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had downgraded its earlier April prediction from 93 per cent to 88 per cent this month.

The IMD’s June forecast comes with a margin of error of 4 per cent of the long period average, and is considered more accurate than the April prediction.

He said northwest India was likely to receive 85 per cent rainfall with a margin of error of 8 per cent.

Speaking at the launch of the supercomputer ‘Bhaskara’ to better compute climatic changes at the National Centre for Medium Range Forecasting, he said the onset of the southwest monsoon over Kerala was likely around June 5.

“It’s not just another unusually hot summer, it is climate change. Let us not fool ourselves that there is no connection between the unusual number of deaths from the ongoing heat wave and the certainty of another failed monsoon,” the Minister said.