Monsoon is expected to arrive on the southern tip of Kerala around June 6, five days after its normal onset date, but is expected to be normal across India, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday.
“At present, monsoon has covered some extreme southern part of Arabian Sea and parts of southwest-southeast-east central Bay of Bengal, Andaman sea and Andaman Nicobar islands. In the next two-three days, it will cover more parts of Arabian sea,” IMD’s M Mohapatra told ANI.
Thunderstorm is expected to continue for the next 3-5 days over northeastern states and over extreme southern peninsula, he added.
The overall monsoon across the country is “most likely” to be normal this season but it will be below normal over north and south India, the India Meteorological Department said in its forecast on Friday.
The El-Nino phenomenon, generally believed to have its impact on monsoon, will continue during the rainy season. However, there is a possibility of these conditions to turn neutral during the later part of the rainfall season, the IMD said.
The El-Nino is linked to the heating of Pacific waters.
Monsoon is likely to be below normal in July and normal in August.
It is likely to be 96 per cent of the Long Period Average, the IMD said.
The LPA over the country as a whole from 1951-2000 is 89 centimeters. Anything between 96-104 per cent of the LPA is normal.
(With agency inputs)