Southwest monsoon advances; IMD forecasts heavy rain in Kerala for next 5 days

 

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala is likely to witness heavy rainfall in the next five days as the southwest monsoon advances further over the Southeast Bay of Bengal, Nicobar Islands and South Andaman Sea on Friday, an alert issues by the India Meteorological Department stated.

Rain with thunder, lightning and wind is expected at isolated places across the state from Friday to Tuesday. A yellow alert has been sounded in Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam and Idukki districts on Friday in view of the IMD forecast. Meanwhile, the IMD said that due to high temperatures and humid air, there is a possibility of hot and uncomfortable weather in Kerala on Friday and Saturday.

Earlier this week, the weather office said the onset of monsoon over Kerala, marking its entry into the mainland, would be slightly delayed than the usual date of June 1. ‘Southwest Monsoon has advanced into some parts of southeast Bay of Bengal, Nicobar Islands and South Andaman Sea today’, the India Meteorological Department said. Conditions are favourable for the further advance of southwest monsoon into some more parts of south Bay of Bengal, Andaman Sea and Andaman & Nicobar Islands during next 3-4 days, it added.

On Tuesday, the weather office had said that the onset of monsoon over Kerala is likely to be on June 4 with a model error of four days. The monsoon arrived in Kerala on May 29 last year, June 3 in 2021, June 1 in 2020, June 8 in 2019 and May 29 in 2018. Agriculture contributes around 15% to India’s 3.5 trillion dollar economy – a good monsoon helps recharge aquifers and reservoirs besides watering the farms.

The emergence of the El Nino weather pattern has raised concerns over monsoon rainfall in 2023. El Nino, which is the warming of the waters in the Pacific Ocean near South America, is generally associated with the weakening of monsoon winds and dry weather in India. The El Nino conditions this year follow three consecutive La Nina years. La Nina, which is the opposite of El Nino, typically brings good rainfall during the monsoon season.