Southwest monsoon hits coastal Kerala early: IMD

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New Delhi: The southwest monsoon hit Kerala Tuesday, three days before its scheduled arrival, says the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The onset of monsoon over the southern state marks the commencement of the four-month-long rainy season in the country.
Rains usually lash Kerala state on the south coast around June 1 and cover the whole country by mid-July.
The IMD has made a forecast of “normal” rainfall this season.
The monsoon, the lifeblood of the country’s $2 trillion economy, delivers nearly 70 per cent of rains that India needs to water farms and recharge reservoirs and aquifers. Nearly half of India’s farmland, without any irrigation cover, depends on annual June-September rains to grow a number of crops.
Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency and a rival of the IMD, had said that the monsoon made its arrival in Kerala Monday.
According to the IMD, if after May 10, 60 per cent of the available 14 stations – Minicoy, Amini, Thiruvananthapuram, Punalur, Kollam, Allapuzha, Kottayam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Thalassery, Kannur, Kudulu and Mangalore – report 2.5 mm or more rainfall for two consecutive days, the onset of monsoon over Kerala can be declared on the second day. This is one of the main parameters for declaring the arrival of monsoon. In the next 48 hours, other parts of the country including Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya will be hit by the season’s first rainfall. Soon after, it will lash
Besides this factor, the westerly winds must be up to 15,000 feet above main sea level and outgoing long-wave radiation less than 200 wm-2 (watt per square metre) to declare the arrival of monsoon.
All the necessary parameters were met following which the onset of monsoon over Kerala was announced, Mritunjay Mohapatra, Additional Director General, IMD said.
Thundershower in Odisha
Meanwhile, Odisha is likely to experience rain and thundershower in next 24 hours due to formation of a depression in the northeast of the Bay of Bengal, India Meteorological Department said in a bulletin.
“It is very likely to intensify further into a deep depression during next 6 hours. It is very likely to move north-northeastwards and cross Myanmar and adjoining Bangladesh coasts between Kyaukpyu and Teknaf (Bangladesh) close to Sittwe around night of today,” said IMD regional director S C Sahu.