Monsoon to hit Andaman around May 17

PUNE: Monsoon is likely to hit the Andaman sea and southeast Bay of Bengal around May 17, three days ahead of its normal time to reach the Andaman sea, said India Meteorology Department (IMD). If conditions remain favourable, the monsoon arrival in the country may take place at its normal time.

The normal time for the monsoon to reach the Andaman seas is around May 20. "Conditions are becoming favourable for advance of south west monsoon over south Andaman sea and south east Bay of Bengal around May 17, 2014," said the IMD.

Monsoon usually hits Kerala on June 1 and occupies the whole country by July 15. Last year, monsoon had progressed very rapidly. The IMD will issue its forecast for arrival of monsoon at Kerala coast on May 15.

Timely arrival of monsoon is important for timely sowing of the kharif crops like pules, oilseeds, cotton, maize and other coarse grains. There is overall concern about the performance of monsoon this year as the IMD has predicted a possibility of a below normal monsoon due to evolution of the El Nino phenomenon.

Meanwhile, rain and thundershowers has occurred at a few places over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Andaman & Nicobar islands; at isolated places over Uttrakhand, Punjab, west Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha & Assam and weather remained mainly dry over rest of the country.