The country is likely to see normal monsoon this year, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) officials have said, dissipating fears of any drought-like conditions. All indicators point towards a “normal monsoon” just like last year, said a ministry official on Tuesday. There is no adverse atmospheric or oceanic condition that may lead to deviation of monsoon from the normal range in the country this year, MoES officials said indicating there is no fear of a repeat of the 2009 drought-like conditions. Even as the World Meteorological Organisation has said monsoon will be neutral in June and July, there is equal probability of a neutral La Nina and El Nino. “Even if the El Nino is to strike, it should be only in August and September so the the initial months will see good rains in the country,” said the officials. With various parts of the country witnessing pre-monsoon showers, the Met department is all set to give an official forecast in the last week of April and the monsoon onset date by May 15. The IMD classifies rainfall between 96-104 per cent of a 50-year average of 89 cm as normal. The last time there was a drought with rainfall below this range was in 2009 and before that, in 2004. Even as there is a fear of the El Nino only in August, the abnormal warming of waters in the equatorial and tropical Pacific is linked to poor rains or a drought-like situation in southeast Asia and Australia. The La Nina weather pattern, which is associated with heavy rain in South Asia and flooding in the Asia-Pacific region and South America and drought in Africa, ended in March. In the interim before El Nino appears, Met officials said a neutral condition continues over the tropical Pacific. The southwest monsoon rains enter India through the southern Kerala coast around June 1 and covers the entire country by mid-July.