Monsoon set to reach Kerala within 24 hours as IMD warns of heavy rain, storms
IMD has forecast widespread rainfall and squally winds even as heatwave conditions linger in parts of north and east India.
THE southwest monsoon is likely to reach Kerala within the next 24 hours, kicking off India’s crucial four-month rainy season, even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned of heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and sharp temperature swings across several parts of the country in the coming days.
The normal onset date for the southwest monsoon over Kerala is 1 June.
The weather office said conditions are favourable for the monsoon to advance further into parts of the southwest and southeast Arabian Sea, the Lakshadweep Islands, parts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, additional areas of the southwest, west-central, east-central and northeast Bay of Bengal, and the remaining parts of the southeast Bay of Bengal over the next 24 hours.
Kerala is likely to receive isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall of 7-20 cm over the next six to seven days, according to the IMD. Isolated heavy rainfall is also forecast over Tamil Nadu and Karnataka during the same period.
The IMD has also warned of moderate to severe thunderstorms accompanied by squally winds of 40-50 kmph across large parts of northwest, central and east India, as well as south peninsular India, on several days this week.
Even as the monsoon advances, heatwave conditions are expected to persist in isolated pockets of Bihar during 5-9 June, east Uttar Pradesh during 7-9 June and west Uttar Pradesh during 8-9 June. Hot and humid conditions are also likely over parts of the Northeast, Odisha, and Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim.
India remains heavily dependent on southwest monsoon, which accounts for over 70% of the country’s annual precipitation. Adequate rainfall supports the farm economy and boosts rural demand. However, with only around 55% of India’s net sown area currently irrigated, the remaining farmland continues to rely on rainfall.
Temperature fluctuation
The weather office expects maximum temperatures to remain volatile across much of the country over the coming week.
Across northwest India, maximum temperatures are likely to fall by 2-4 degrees Celsius between 4-6 June before rising by 3-5 degrees Celsius during 7-9 June. In east India, temperatures are expected to rise by 2-3 degrees Celsius through 5 June and remain largely stable until 9 June.
Maharashtra is likely to see maximum temperatures decline by 2-3 degrees Celsius until 5 June, followed by little change over the next four days. Gujarat is also expected to record a 2-3 degree Celsius decline until 5 June before temperatures rise by a similar margin between 6-9 June.
As of 2 June, maximum temperatures ranged between 38 and 42 degrees Celsius across parts of central and adjoining east India, north peninsular India, southwest Rajasthan, Saurashtra and Kutch, and interior Maharashtra, while remaining below 38 degrees Celsius elsewhere. Khammam in Telangana recorded the highest maximum temperature at 43 degrees Celsius.
Maximum temperatures on 2 June were markedly above normal—more than 5.1 degrees Celsius above average—at isolated locations in Assam and Meghalaya, Bihar, and Himachal Pradesh.
Temperatures were appreciably above normal, by 3.1-5 degrees Celsius, at many places in Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim; at a few places in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, and Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh-Gilgit-Baltistan-Muzaffarabad; and at isolated locations in Gangetic West Bengal, east Uttar Pradesh, east Madhya Pradesh, Konkan and Goa, and Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal.
Night temperatures were also appreciably above normal across parts of Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, west Rajasthan, Saurashtra and Kutch, Uttar Pradesh, west Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Gangetic West Bengal, Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam and Meghalaya, while remaining near normal or below normal elsewhere.
As temperatures moderate in some regions, power demand has retreated from recent record highs.
Peak power demand on Wednesday stood at 247.22GW at around 3:20 p.m., according to data from the national power portal, way below the previous week's over 260GW. The projected peak demand for India this year is 271GW, as per the estimates of the Central Electricity Authority.
