The much-awaited southwest monsoon finally hit the Kerala coast on Monday. Over the next few days, the coastal areas are likely to experience more rainfall than the interior parts of peninsular India due to a storm developing in the Arabian sea.
Monsoon had been lingering after reaching the Sri Lanka coast on May 21 because of low-speed winds, creating fears that it could get delayed. However, the rains have reached the state by month-end as predicted by the Indian Meteorological Department. “There were heavy rains in the northern parts such as Vadakara and Kannur and some parts of south Kerala like Mavelikkara,” said Mr K. Santhosh, the director of the IMD centre in Thiruvananthpuram. “The monsoon arrival meets all our parameters.” He added that the IMD expected heavy rains across the state over the next 48 hours.
An IMD statement said that monsoon had advanced into most parts of south Arabian Sea, all of Kerala, south Tamil Nadu and some more parts of south-west Bay of Bengal. It was likely to advance further to central Arabian Sea, coastal and south interior Karnataka and Goa, said the statement.
Meanwhile, senior IMD officials in Delhi said that because of a storm developing in Arabian sea, the western coastal areas are likely to witness more rainfall, while the interior parts of the peninsula would get rains later. There is a depression developing in the Arabian, which may give way to a cyclone that is likely to hit parts of coastal Gujarat and also Karachi in Pakistan, IMD officials said. This depression may affect the progress of monsoon in the interior parts, they added.
The south-west monsoon is the lifeline of the agriculture in India and the country is praying for good rains from June to September.