Kerala Experiences Southwest Monsoon 2 Days Early; Heavy Rains In Kerala And Lakshadweep

Southwest monsoon has hit Kerala and other parts of northeast India as of today, 30th May, 2024, as stated by the official IMD X account.

According to the guidelines by IMD, southwest monsoon is announced over the region if the following conditions are met:

After 10th May, 60% of the available 14 stations enlisted*, viz. Minicoy, Amini, Thiruvananthapuram, Punalur, Kollam, Allapuzha, Kottayam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Thalassery, Kannur, Kudulu and Mangalore report rainfall of 2.5 mm or more for two consecutive days.

Depth of westerlies should be maintained up to 600 hPa, in the box equator to Lat. 10ºN and Long. 55ºE to 80ºE.

INSAT derived OLR value should be below 200 wm-2 in the box confined by Lat. 5-10ºN and Long. 70-75ºE.

Usually, southwest monsoon hits Kerala at around 1 June, after which it hits the rest of the country in bursts, covering the nation by around 15 July. Due to the current abnormal weather conditions in the south, however, it seems that monsoon hit the state two days early.

According to the rainfall weather report for today by Kerala's Meteorological Department, most stations in the state experienced rainfall above 10 mm, with some stations like the ones in Kochi airport and Amini reaching more than 30 mm of rain. Some notable numbers for the weather today also include the stations at Thiruvananthapuram City and Airport in Kerala, and Minicoy in Lakshadweep reporting rainfall between 70 mm to 90 mm.

Yesterday afternoon, at around 3:30 PM, a notice was put up in the special bulletin board for weather on the IMD website, which predicted the current weather conditions in Kerala by saying:

"The conditions continue to become favourable for Monsoon onset over Kerala during next 24-hours. The conditions also continue to become favourable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon into some more parts of South Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Maldives and Comorin area; some parts of Lakshadweep area, Kerala; some more parts Southwest & Central Bay of Bengal, Northeast Bay of Bengal and some parts of Northeastern states during the same period."

The notice was signed by K. Santosh, the head scientist at the meteorological centre in Thiruvananthapuram.