Monsoon Hits Kerala On Time, There Is More Good News As IMD Predicts Above Average Rains

The annual southwestern monsoon has hit the Kerala coast, right on time - June 1 bringing heavy rains across the state. The monsoon has been active over Kerala with heavy to very heavy rain occurring at most places and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) bulletin said.

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Kerala has been receiving heavy rains since the last few days as part of pre-summer showers and shutters of a few dams were opened. "Southwest Monsoon has set in over Kerala today, the 1st June 2020, coinciding with its normal date," the IMD said in its website.

In Kozhikode, which received 15 cm of rain, following which a red alert was sounded for two days in the district. The red alert denotes the likelihood of very heavy to extremely heavy rain.

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The monsoon will start its journey further upwards and will cover the rest of India in the coming days. North India is likely to get "above normal" rainfall, while central India and the southern peninsula will receive "normal" rainfall, the IMD said in a briefing. However, east and northeast India are likely to receive less rainfall than other parts of the country.

In April, the IMD had predicted a normal monsoon, which it has reiterated the same on 1 June. IMD expects a monsoon 102% of its long-period average. The IMD issues Long Range Forecast Update for 2020 Southwest Monsoon Rainfall Rainfall over the country as a whole for the 2020 southwest monsoon season is most likely to be NORMAL (96% to 104% of long period average).

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The four-month monsoon season from June to September accounts for 75 per cent of rainfall in the country. It is also the lifeline of India's agrarian economy and a good monsoon often means good news for the farmers who are heavily dependant on the monsoon rains for their livelihood.

The IMD, meanwhile, warned that a cyclonic storm will cross north Maharashtra and south Gujarat coasts late in the evening on June 3, bringing in its wake heavy rains in parts of the two states and Goa. The Gujarat government has ordered evacuation of people living in low-lying coastal areas and deployed teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in over half a dozen districts.

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The IMD said the low-pressure area formed over the Arabian Sea has intensified into a depression and it will further intensify into a cyclonic storm in the next 36 hours.