After sluggish march, monsoon finally arrives in Kerala

The Southwest monsoon kept its date with the Kerala coast on Friday as it arrived after a “sluggish march” for two weeks over the Bay of Bengal.

Declaring the onset of monsoon on Friday, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said the rainfall over Kerala was fairly widespread in the last 48 hours.

Ten out of 14 observation stations reported more than 2.5 mm rainfall in the last two days. On Friday, two stations in Wayanad district – Vythiri and Pookot – recorded 6 cm rainfall each, the highest in the state.

The central-southern districts of Kottayam, Idukki, Alappuzha and Kollam also received moderate rains. 

“The march of the monsoon was sluggish,” said IMD Director General Lakshman Singh Rathore, describing the halt of the monsoon current over the Bay of Bengal for almost two weeks. Another official said this year’s monsoon was expected to provide “below-normal” rainfall.

The IMD said the monsoon could cover the entire state and advance to southern parts of Karnataka and parts of Tamil Nadu over the next two to three days.

Though it initially predicted that monsoon would hit Kerala coast on June 5, it later warned of a slight delay of 1-2 days from the June 5 schedule, which is expected in an El Nino year.

IMD says conditions are favourable for the further advance of the Southwest monsoon into the remaining parts of south Arabian Sea, some parts of central Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Kerala, some parts of south Karnataka, parts of Tamil Nadu and west central Bay of Bengal during the next 2-3 days. 

Moreover, climatic conditions continue to remain favourable for further advance of Southwest monsoon into some parts of northeastern states in the next 48 hours.