New Delhi: Annual monsoon rains have arrived at Kerala coast on Friday, five days later than expected, officials at the weather office said.
"The rainfall over Kerala has been fairly widespread for the last 48 hours. Out of the 14 rainfall monitoring stations for monsoon onset over Kerala, more than 70% of stations have reported rainfall higher than 2.5 mm for last consecutive two days," says IMD in it’s statement.
"Monsoon has further advanced into entire south Arabian Sea, some parts of Central Arabian Sea, entire Lakshadweep area and Kerala, some parts of Coastal & South Interior Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, remaining parts of southeast Bay of Bengal and some parts of central & northeast Bay of Bengal," the statement added.
On June 2, India scaled down this year's June to September monsoon rainfall forecast citing an El Nino weather pattern, raising fears of the first drought in six years.
El Nino, an event marked by warmer surface waters in the Pacific Ocean, increases the chance of droughts in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, Southeast Asia and India.
