Southwest monsoon arrives at Kerala coast, three days ahead of normal onset date

Three days ahead of its normal onset date of June 1, 2022, the southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala on Sunday.

The southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala on Sunday, May 29, against the normal date of onset of June 1, India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said.

One of the world`s biggest producers and consumers of farm goods, India relies on monsoon rains to water almost half its farmland, which lacks irrigation.

Earlier, the IMD had forecast onset over Kerala on May 27 with help from remnants of Cyclone Asani that struck the Bay of Bengal a fortnight ago. The forecast had a model error of four days.

However, the influence of the remnant weather systems that lingered over the southern peninsula petered out.

Last month the department forecast average monsoon rains for this year, raising the prospects of higher farm and overall economic growth in Asia`s third-biggest economy.

The meteorological department declares the arrival of monsoon rains only after parameters measuring the consistency of rainfall over a defined geography, intensity, cloudiness and wind speed are satisfied.

It defines average, or normal, rainfall as ranging between 96% and 104% of a 50-year average of 87 cm (35 inches) for the season beginning in June.

Farming contributes around 15% to India`s $2.7 trillion economy while sustaining more than half the population of 1.3 billion.

Other than watering farms and recharging aquifers and reservoirs, regular rains during the monsoon season can bring relief from the searing heat.

Plentiful monsoon rains would boost rice output from India, the world`s biggest exporter of the staple. India`s surprise decision to ban wheat exports had raised doubts about some curbs on the overseas sales of rice as well.

With Input from Agencies