Heavy rainfall alert issued across state till Monday

KOCHI: As predicted, the southwest monsoon missed its normal onset date of June 1 in Kerala with it is still only advancing into parts of south Arabian Sea, Maldives and Comorin area. IMD had set the onset date on June 4 while Skymet Weather expects it to reach Kerala around June 7.
Meanwhile, heavy rainfall alert has been issued for Kerala till June 5. IMD has issued yellow alerts for isolated heavy rainfall for Pathanamthitta and Idukki on Friday and Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Idukki districts on Saturday. Seven districts -- Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Idukki -- are on alert for isolated heavy rainfall on Sunday.
A cyclonic circulation is likely to develop over southeast Arabian Sea around June 5. Under its influence, a low-pressure area is likely to form over the same region during the subsequent 48 hours.
According to the 24-hour rainfall recorded on Thursday morning, Laha received the highest of 8cm while Kannur got 7cm rainfall. Kuppady in Wayanad and Idamalayar dam in Ernakulam received 6cm each.
Despite the rainfall activity, maximum temperatures remained 2-4 degrees higher than normal over Kozhikode, Palakkad, Alappuzha, Kannur, Malappuram, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur districts. Kozhikode recorded the highest maximum temperature of 36.4°C.
Skymet weather said that the southwest monsoon is lingering over the Bay of Bengal islands.