South West monsoon sets in over Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, May 26 (UNI) The South West monsoon set in over the Kerala coast today, six days in advance and the meteorological department has said that conditions were favourable for the advancement of monsoon over coastal Karnataka and northeastern states during the next 48 hours.

Local Meteorological Director K Santhosh told UNI that all the conditions were favourable for an advanced monsoon in the state.

He said the sudden change in the circulation pattern, the effect of the westerlies and other climate factors had contributed to the advanced monsoon onset in the country.

He said the quantum of rains in this monsoon would be seven per cent less compared to last time.

The agricultural sector in the country mainly depends on the South West monsoon, which normally hits the Kerala coast on June 1.

The South-West monsoon is responsible for rains during June and September.

Satellite pictures released by the India Metereological Department showed the monsoon active over a swathe of South India.

The northern limit of monsoon passed through Kochi to Chennai.

''In view of persistent strong and deep southwesterly flow over south Arabian Sea, development of an off-shore trough off Kerala-Karnataka coast, appearance of an east-west shear zone from Bay of Bengal to southwest Arabian Sea in the middle troposphere, continued rainfall activity over Kerala for the last two days, the IMD declares onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala,'' the department said.

''Heavy to very heavy rainfall'' was predicted in parts of Kerala, Lakshadweep and coastal Karnataka.

The northern limit of the monsoon is expected to advance to Vishakapatnam-Kolkata by June 5, Mumbai-Bihar by June 10, Rajkot- Allahabad by June 15 and the rest of the country by July 15.

Dring tThe last 24 hours rainfall occurred at many places over Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Kerala and Coastal Karnataka and a few places over northeastern States, Andhra Pradesh, South Madhya Maharashtra, South Konkan and Goa, the IMD said.

Isolated rainfall was also recorded over West Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal, East Uttar Pradesh, Vidarbha, West Bengal, Sikkim and Lakshadweep.

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