Hyderabad: The monsoon hit Kerala on Monday, a day earlier than predicted, marking the arrival of the rainy season in the country. The normal date of monsoon onset is June 1. The state can expect rain in a week, and relief from the sweltering heat.
Indian Meteorological Department-Hyderabad director Y.K. Reddy told this newspaper, “If the progress of the monsoon is steady, Telangana state may receive its first rain between June 6 and to 8. The monsoon is likely to cover Kerala within a week and is likely to progress in the northern direction towards Rayalaseema and Telangana state in a week.”
An official said the monsoon advances over the Andaman Sea normally around May 20, with a standard deviation of about one week. This year the conditions were favorable and it advanced into some parts of Andaman Sea and southeast Bay of Bengal before the forecast date, an IMD official said.
According to the IMD, if after May 10, 60 per cent of the 14 stations — Minicoy, Amini, Thiruvanant-hapuram, Punalur, Kollam, Allapuzha, Kottayam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Thalassery, Kannur, Kudulu and Mangalore — report rainfall of 2.5 mm or more for two consecutive days, the onset of monsoon over Kerala can be declared on the second day. This is one of the main parameters for the declaring the arrival of monsoon.
Besides this, the other parameters for the arrival of Monsoon should be that the westerly winds must be up to 15,000 feet above main sea level and outgoing long-wave radiation should be less than 200 wm-2 (watt per square metre).
“Rain for consecutive two days have been recorded in almost all weather stations,” said Mahesh Palwat of private weather forecasting agency Skymet.
