Monsoon Likely To Be Normal This Year: IMD

The monsoon is likely to be normal this year and expected to arrive in Kerala on June 4, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on 26 May.

"Once the monsoon will get established strong, we are expecting the monsoon to arrive in Kerala around 4th June. Before 1st June, we are not expecting monsoon to arrive. Monsoon most likely to be normal this year," ANI quoted the IMD in a tweet.

The weather-monitoring agency stated that there is no cyclone probability in the Arabian sea for next week.

"If rainfall distribution is almost similar everywhere, then it will be an ideal situation. There won't be any problem. If we get equal distribution everywhere, there won't be much impact on agriculture. In northwest India, as of now, below-normal rainfall will be there," the IMD stated.

It has to be noted that 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.

However, private forecasting agency Skymet Weather said the monsoon was likely to reach Kerala on June 7 with an error margin of three days.

"The onset will be delayed and the advancement slightly sluggish over peninsular India. Hot weather will continue deep into June this year over central and northern parts of the country. This may not augur well for Kharif sowing," it said in a statement.

However, the IMD had stated that its forecasts for the monsoon onset over Kerala proved to be correct during the last 18 years except in 2015.