The southwest monsoon is likely to hit Kerala on June 5, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, “This year, the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala is likely to be slightly delayed on June 5 with a model error of ± 4 days.”
The advance of the monsoon over Indian inland is marked by monsoon onset over Kerala and is a vital pointer describing the change from hot and dry season to a rainy season.
The monsoon will probably arrive in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by May 16, six days before its new onset date of May 22 due to a cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal.
NORMAL MONSOON THIS YEAR
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday said “this year, we will witness a normal monsoon”, which is very crucial given the nationwide lockdown for more than a month due to ongoing health crisis amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The IMD, in its first stage of Long Range Forecast (LRF) for monsoon, said the Southwest Monsoon season, which is from June to September, rainfall across the country as a whole is likely to be normal.
“96 to 100 per cent is considered as the normal monsoon. The Long Period Average (LPA) of the season rainfall over the country as a whole for the period 1961-2010 is 88 cm,” said the IMD official during an online press conference.
Madhavan Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) said that quantitatively the monsoon rainfall, during the monsoon season 2020, is expected to be 100 per cent of its long-period average, with a model error of 5 per cent.
“Good news is that it is estimated that the deficient rainfall will be 9 per cent. This forecast is based on the statistical model, it suggests that we will have a normal monsoon,” added the IMD official.
(WITH INPUTS FROM IANS)
