“We have a very objective way of assessing monsoon onset and we stand by our forecast of monsoon onset around June 1. Skymet Weather’s vice president (climate and meteorology) Mahesh Palawat said they have over a hundred automatic weather stations in Kerala. IMD may declare monsoon onset later but we announced today [Saturday] because all parameters are fulfilled.”Union earth sciences ministry secretary M Rajeevan echoed Mohapatra. “The news about monsoon onset over Kerala in social media is not correct. Under its influence, conditions are likely to become favourable for onset of the monsoon over Kerala around June 1, IMD said in its Saturday bulletin.

Source: Hindustan Times May 30, 2020 18:35 UTC