SW monsoon to keep date with State

An Indian Meteorological Department announcement on Friday said weather models indicated that the onset of monsoon over Kerala would occur on May 31 to advance to coastal Karnataka and northern Tamil Nadu on June 1.

This year’s south west monsoon set in over the Bay of Bengal on May 17, two days later than its normal date of May 15. The heat wave conditions prevalent in northwest and central India would also subside in the next one week with occasional thundershower coming from the eastern Mediterranean, the IMD said.

For the last few days, Kerala and the Northeast have been experiencing widespread pre-monsoon showers, hinting the likelihood of the monsoon reaching the coasts as forecast. After reaching Kerala and coastal Karnataka by Tuesday, the monsoon would march to Konkan and Goa coast as well as to the Northeast by next week (June 4-10), the IMD said.

It also said 2010 summer was severe, with temperature crossing 45 degrees Celsius mark in many parts of central and northwest India. The mean monthly temperature in March and April was the highest in the last 100 years. May was also warmer than normal with heat wave conditions prevailing in northwest and central India.