Onset of Southwest monsoon over Kerala in next 48 hours : IMD

Hyderabad/New Delhi: Though the southwest monsoon missed the onset date over Kerala on June 4, as forecasted by India Meteorological Department (IMD) on May 16, the conditions are becoming favourable for its onset over the Southern State during the next 48 hours.

There is a persistence of westerly winds over south Arabian Sea, Increase in the depth of westerly winds upto middle tropospheric levels and Increase in cloudiness over the areas covering southeast Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep and Kerala coasts.

Under such Scenario, the conditions are becoming favourable for Monsoon onset over Kerala during the next 48 hours, IMD said in a release on Wednesday.

It said the conditions are also favourable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon into some more parts of South Arabian Sea, entire Lakshadweep , Maldives and Comorin area, some more parts of Southwest, Central & Northeast Bay of Bengal and some parts of Northeastern states during the next 48 hours.

Earlier, on May 16, the IMD forecasted that the onset of the southwest monsoon over Kerala is likely to be on June 4, a delay by about four days.

Southwest monsoon normally sets in over Kerala on June 1 with a standard deviation of about 7 days.

In 2022, IMD forecasted onset date of southwest monsoon on May 27 but the actual onset date is May 29.

IMD said its operational forecasts of the date of monsoon onset over Kerala during the past 18 years (2005-2022) were proved to be correct except in 2015. (UNI)