Monsoon likely to hit Kerala on June 5: India Meteorological Department

NEW DELHI: The monsoon is likely to hit the southern coast of Kerala on June 5, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday.

“The date of southwest monsoon onset over Kerala is likely to be on June 5 with a model error of plus minus four days,” said L.S.Rathore, director general, India Meteorological Department. He said the date was within the standard time frame of the monsoon.

In 2013, the monsoon hit Kerala on June 1, whereas in 2012, the monsoon onset date was June 5th.

The June-September monsoon, which traverses the entire country form Kanyakumari to Kashmir, delivers approximately 80% of the annual rainfall over most parts.

Rathore said that currently, the winds around Srilanka were favorable and clouding over south of Arabian Sea and adjoining south Bay of Bengal was progressing.During the past few days, considerable increase in the rainfall activity over the Bay of Bengal was also observed.

The southwest monsoon normally advances over Andaman Sea around 20th May with a standard deviation of about one week.

The Indian weather office treats June 1 as the normal date for the arrival of the monsoon over the southern coast based on rainfall data of over 100 years. Scientists say an error window of 4 days is usually kept while predicting the onset of the monsoon.