Monsoon may hit Goa next week

PANAJI: Lack of strong monsoon currents has stalled the onset of the southwest monsoon over Goa and its northern limit remains stuck at Karwar since May 31. IMD - Panaji expects the monsoon current to revive on Wednesday.
Lack of strong monsoon currents to sustain rainfall activity has stalled further progress of southwest monsoon over Goa, as its northern limit remains stuck at Karwar since May 31 - after it hit the border town within three days from Kerala.
On Thursday, prospects of its onset over the state had appeared bright with widespread rainfall activity reported across the state.
The revival of monsoon current appears likely only after about four days on Wednesday. "There are no weather systems either in Arabian Sea or Bay of Bengal to enhance any severe convective activity. Only light rain and thunderstorm activity during afternoon is possible," Rahul M, scientist, IMD, Panaji said.
While the onset of monsoon over Kerala on May 29 had been three days earlier than normal date, strengthening of monsoon towards the second half of next week likely to trigger again its further advance.
"This (lack of rainfall activity) is called 'hiatus in monsoon'. The advance of monsoon is not linear. In 2002, it took 76 days for the system to cover the entire Indian subcontinent but just 16 days in 2013, a drought year," M R Ramesh Kumar, a reputed meteorologist and chief scientist (retired), national institute of oceanography (NIO), Dona Paula said.
This hiatus is quite unusual, he said. "The monsoon has not been stalled this long in Karwar for the past several years," Kumar stated.