It's official: monsoon has arrived in state

The monsoon hit coastal Karnataka and south interior Karnataka on Wednesday. It is a week later than usual.

The India Meteorological Department announced the onset of monsoon after assessing rainfall late on Tuesday and in the early hours of Wednesday. L Ramesh Babu, IMD director in charge, told DH most parts of coastal and south interior Karnataka had experienced rainfall on Tuesday night.

“Winds are also favourable for the advancement of monsoon and this marks its onset,” he said.

The patterns indicate the monsoon will advance and cover the whole of Karnataka, he said. The southwest monsoon had arrived in Kerala on May 30, and was to hit Karnataka two days from then. However, it was delayed because of low pressure off the Arabian Sea.

Babu expects the monsoon to cover the whole of north interior Karnataka in three or four days. So far, it has been active in south coastal, south and south interior Karnataka, he said. All the criteria to determine the onset of the monsoon have been met: strong and gusty winds are blowing from the south west to the west, the weather office said.

Most parts of southern and coastal Karnataka experienced heavy rain, of up to 13 cm. Many parts of Bengaluru experienced a drizzle on Wednesday.