The final set of Indian Premier League matches being held in the city over the weekend are unlikely to be affected by rains, meteorological department officials said on Thursday. "Weather conditions are so far favourable for the onset of monsoons over Kerala during the next two to three days and therefore is unlikely that it will affect Mumbai during this weekend," C V V Bhadram, deputy director general of the India Meteorological Department in Mumbai said. The city usually gets its first showers approximately ten days after the monsoons hit Kerala, which is likely to happen this year by June 1, he said. The semi-finals of the IPL are to be held in Wankhede stadium in south Mumbai on May 30 and 31 while the finals are to be held at the D Y Patil stadium in neighbouring Navi Mumbai on June 1. Meteorological analysis and interpretation of numerical weather prediction models has shown strengthening and deepening of cross-equatorial wind flow over the south Arabian sea during the next two to three days favouring the onset of monsoons. "However, a clearer picture will emerge once the rain hits the mainland in Kerala on June 1," Bhadram said. The city has been witnessing cloudy weather and light showers in some areas over the past week, however, weather officials said there was no indication of pre-monsoon rains in the metropolis over the weekend.
