The southwest monsoon arrived in Kerala on Sunday, three days ahead of its normal date of onset (June 1), beginning the four-month rainy season in the country, said the India Meteorological Department which has already predicted ‘normal’ and well-distributed rainfall during the season. This is only the third occasion in the past 10 years when the summer monsoon recorded early onset - before June 1.
“Conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon into some parts of central Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Kerala, some more parts of Tamil Nadu, some parts of Karnataka, and some more parts of south and central Bay of Bengal, some parts of northeast Bay of Bengal and northeastern states during next 3-4 days,” said the Met department. The monsoon map released by the IMD shows the seasonal rains will reach western Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and parts of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan during June 25-30.
The IMD had earlier this month predicted the monsoon onset over Kerala on May 27 with a model error of ± 4 days. It claimed that its operational forecasts of the date of monsoon onset over the state during the past 18 years (2005-22) were proved to be correct except in 2015. “All conditions are fulfilled for the onset of monsoon over Kerala. . . Conditions are now further favourable to also cover more parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Bay of Bengal and also northeastern states.
