Southwest Monsoon hits Kerala, says IMD; 'normal' rainfall predicted
The southwest monsoon has finally arrived in Kerala, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday. The event marks the beginning of the four-month rainfall season in India. Earlier on Saturday, private forecaster Skymet Weather had declared the arrival of monsoon, but the IMD had differed saying that conditions were not ripe for such an announcement at the time. Here are more details.
Dr. Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, said at a press briefing on Monday, "Uniformly, we expect good spatial distribution (of rainfall) over the country during this monsoon season." Across India, the monsoon season rainfall is likely to be 102% of the long period average (LPA). This is 2% more rainfall than what was assumed during the month of April.
The southwest monsoon season usually hits Kerala's southern tip in the first week of June and retreats from Rajasthan by September. India receives nearly 75% of its rainfall during this period. 96-104% of LPA is considered normal rainfall. LPA is defined as the rainfall received by the entire country during the southwest monsoon over a 50-year period. Currently, the LPA is 89cm.
During the monsoon season, the northwest region is expected to receive 107% of LPA, the central region is expected to receive 103% of LPA, the southern region is expected to receive 102% of LPA, while the northeast region is expected to receive 96% of LPA.
IMD Director-General Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said, "Widespread rainfall is predicted in Kerala in three days. More than 80% stations of IMD recorded over 2.5mm rainfall." He added, "Another monsoon system, a vortex, has developed in the Arabian Sea. This depression is currently 690km away from Mumbai, in the south-southwest direction." This low-pressure system is expected to hit the Gujarat and Maharashtra coast on Wednesday.
