PTI
New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram
The IMD announced the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala on Thursday, marking the commencement of the four-month rainy season in the country.
Rains lashed most places in Lakshadweep and parts of Kerala, according to a weather bulletin in Thiruvananthapuram.
“The southwest monsoon has made an onset over southern parts of Kerala,” IMD Director General Mrutunjay Mohapatra said.
According to the India meteorological department, the rains arrived two days later than its normal schedule of June 1. This is the third time in the last six years that monsoon arrived late. In 2016 and 2019, southwest monsoon made an onset over Kerala on June 8.
A good monsoon is critical to the Indian economy which is still largely based on agriculture and its allied activities.
Most parts of the country are expected to receive normal to above normal rainfall during the season, the IMD said.
As rains lashed parts of Kerala, the IMD sounded a ‘yellow alert’ for eight districts – Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki,
Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod – indicating the possibility of isolated heavy rainfall.
Southwest monsoon is likely to advance into remaining parts of south Arabian Sea and some parts of central Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Kerala, Lakshadweep, some parts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal and south interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema, and south and central Bay of Bengal during the next two days, the IMD said.
The IMD had earlier forecast that monsoon would make an onset over Kerala around May 31.
Skymet, a private weather forecasting station, said southwest monsoon made an onset over Kerala on May 30. However, the IMD said conditions were not ripe for declaring the onset of monsoon.
The southwest monsoon is likely to be normal in north and south India, above-normal in central India and below-normal in east and northeast India, the Met department had said in its second-long range forecast for southwest monsoon 2021 on Tuesday.
However, there are some regions in east and northeast India like eastern parts of Bihar, some parts of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, adjoining Himachal Pradesh, southwest peninsular India, specifically some parts of Kerala, coastal Karnataka and parts of interior Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu where the probability of below normal activity is predicted, the IMD said.