Southwest Monsoon Arrives In Kerala A Day Ahead Of Schedule
Cyclone Remal had pulled the monsoonal flow to the Bay of Bengal, which could be one of the reasons for early onset over the northeast.
The southwest monsoon arrived over the Kerala coast and parts of northeast India on Thursday, a day earlier than predicted by the weather department. Monsoon typically settles over Kerala by June 1 and over Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, and Assam by June 5.
On May 15, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had forecasted the monsoon's arrival in southern India on May 31. This weather system was spurred by Cyclone Remal, which made landfall earlier this week between West Bengal and Bangladesh.
"Southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala and advanced into most parts of northeast India today," the IMD posted on X.
The IMD declares the onset of the monsoon over Kerala if 14 weather stations in the state and nearby regions receive 2.5 mm or more rainfall for two consecutive days any time after May 10, if the outgoing longwave radiation is low, and if the wind direction is southwesterly.
Kerala has experienced heavy rainfall for the past few days ahead of the monsoon's arrival, resulting in surplus rainfall for May, according to IMD data.
Cyclone Remal had pulled the monsoonal flow to the Bay of Bengal, which may have contributed to the early onset over the northeast, according to weather scientists.
El Nino conditions are currently prevailing, but La Nina may set in by August-September, scientists said. El Nino, characterised by the periodic warming of surface waters in the central Pacific Ocean, is associated with weaker monsoon winds and drier conditions in India.
Conversely, La Nina is the antithesis of El Nino and leads to plentiful rainfall during the monsoon season.
(With PTI inputs)
