Southwest monsoon likely by June 4, says IMD

Visakhapatnam: The onset of  southwest monsoon might be delayed by another four days. The IMD has set a new date June 4 for the event, which heralds the rainy season in India.

As per the latest meteorological indications, the south westerly winds could strengthen further gradually from June 1 onwards, resulting in a likely enhancement in rainfall activity over Kerala. Hence, the southwest monsoons are likely to set in over Kerala on June 3. Earlier, it was predicted that the monsoons would set in over Kerala on May 31.

Director of IMD, Amaravati, Stella S said the rainfall activity should be in more than 75 per cent of the weather stations in Kerala for declaring the onset of monsoons. Along with other factors like wind direction, wind speed, and quantum of outgoing long wave radiations over specific areas in the equatorial Arabian Sea, the main criterion remains the rainfall over the designated stations.