Monsoon 2017: Wait for South-West monsoon gets longer in Karnataka

The earlier forecast of monsoon covering the entire state by June 7, has now been pushed to June 10.

Bengaluru, June 5: The wait just got longer. The onset of the south-west monsoon over Karnataka, will be delayed by a few days. The earlier forecast of monsoon covering the entire state by June 7, has now been pushed to June 10.

Although monsoon hit the Kerala coast as early as May 29 and was expected to advance to Karnataka, it was delayed following two circulations in the Arabian Sea.

According to the reports the Northern Limit of Monsoon, which generally reaches Karnataka's Karwar is still near Kochi in Kerala, as of June 4. Apart from the slight delay in kharif sowing, the delay may not have direct impact on the agriculture sector.

The Indian Meteorological Department has forecast a normal monsoon in Karnataka, which will bring respite to the state reeling under severe drought consecutively for the past three years.

While good pre-monsoon rainfall helped farmers who sow crops in the month of May, the late onset of the South-West monsoon may slightly delay any fresh sowing activity.

G S Srinivas Reddy, Director, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell has said that initially the signs were encouraging, after monsoon arrived in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, six days ahead of schedule. "After that, the NLM stagnated near Sri Lanka owing to Cyclone Mora. After Mora made landfall, the westerly in the Arabian Sea is affecting the progress of the monsoon. However, rainfall can be expected from June 10.

Last week, the region had recorded good showers and there has been a gap of few days now. Once monsoon reaches, Bengaluru can expect light to moderate rainfall in the region.

OneIndia News