Monsoon to hit Kerala on June 6, to be delayed by 5 days, says IMD

The IMD has been issuing operational forecasts of the date of the monsoon onset over Kerala since 2005. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)

The Southwest monsoon is likely to miss its date with Kerala on June 1 and make an onset on June 6 instead, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its monsoon onset forecast for 2019, released on Wednesday.

In 2017, the onset over Kerala happened two days in advance (May 30) whereas in 2018, the onset was realised on May 29, which was three days proceeding the normal onset date over Kerala.

IMD in its onset -forecast also informed that the monsoon arrival over the Andaman and Nicobar islands will happen towards the end of this week. Normally, it arrives over the islands anytime between May 10 – May 15.

” Conditions are becoming favourable for monsoon to advance onto Andaman and Nicobar islands around May18 or May 19,” the forecast suggested.