The south-west monsoon, which brings over 70% rainfall to India, has set in over Kerala, three days ahead of its normal arrival date, the India Meteorological Department said (IMD) on Tuesday. The IMD, which had forecast monsoon arrival on May 29, confirmed that the monsoon has hit the Kerala coast. “The monsoon has arrived early, as expected. The next stage forecast about region-wise distribution will be announced in the next few days or first week of June,” said M. Mohapatra, head of National Weather Forecasting Centre at IMD. The monsoon forecast about geographical distribution of rainfall will also include month-wise distribution during June to September period.
2018 is the second consecutive year in the last five years that the monsoon has marked its arrival earlier than expected. Last year, the monsoon had arrived on 30 May as predicted by the government’s weather department. However, it had recorded a delay in 2014, 2015 and 2016. IMD officials, however, said that there was no precise co-relation between the early onsets of monsoon, over the quantity of rainfall.

The south-west monsoon, which brings over 70% rainfall to India, has set in over Kerala, three days ahead of its normal arrival date, the India Meteorological Department said (IMD) on Tuesday. The IMD, which had forecast monsoon arrival on May 29, confirmed that the monsoon has hit the Kerala coast. “The monsoon has arrived early, as expected. The next stage forecast about region-wise distribution will be announced in the next few days or first week of June,” said M. Mohapatra, head of National Weather Forecasting Centre at IMD. The monsoon forecast about geographical distribution of rainfall will also include month-wise distribution during June to September period.
2018 is the second consecutive year in the last five years that the monsoon has marked its arrival earlier than expected. Last year, the monsoon had arrived on 30 May as predicted by the government’s weather department. However, it had recorded a delay in 2014, 2015 and 2016. IMD officials, however, said that there was no precise co-relation between the early onsets of monsoon, over the quantity of rainfall.