The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday said the southwest monsoon would be “slightly delayed” over Kerala and arrive on June 6. To forecast the monsoon arrival, the IMD uses a customised weather model which, it stated, had been wrong only once - in 2015 - since 2014. “Conditions are becoming favourable for the advance of the southwest monsoon over the southern part of the Andaman Sea, Nicobar Islands and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal during 18-19 May,” says the IMD. However, meteorologists had indicated that the monsoon — impeded by high temperatures in the seas surrounding India, and an El Nino — will advance sluggishly after reaching Kerala. The IMD said it expected a “normal monsoon” but pointed to a “significant probability” of below normal rains.

Source: The Hindu May 15, 2019 07:13 UTC