New Delhi, May 17
The much-awaited south-west monsoon today brought first showers to the Andaman and Nicobar islands, setting the stage for its early progression towards Kerala.
“South-west monsoon has set in over parts of south Bay of Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and most parts of the Andaman Sea,” Ajit Tyagi, Director-General of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
He said a depression in the Bay of Bengal was expected to pull the monsoonal flow towards the mainland and it might reach Kerala before May 30. Last week, the IMD had issued a forecast stating that the monsoon could reach Kerala by May 30.The onset of monsoon has now set the stage for the four-month rainfall season that has been eagerly awaited by farmers who had to bear the brunt of a severe drought last year.
The weather office said conditions were favourable for further advance of the monsoon over more parts of the Bay of Bengal and remaining parts of the Andaman Sea over the next two days.Last month, the IMD had forecast a normal rainfall for this year with a precipitation of 98 per cent of the long-period average, subject to a model error of plus or minus five per cent for the entire season (from June to September).Last year, the weather office had forecast a rainfall of 94 per cent plus or minus five per cent in April and then fine-tuned it to 93 per cent plus or minus four per cent. But, the country received a rainfall of 78 per cent of the LPA only.
The normal monsoon forecast is expected to bring cheers to over 235 million farmers who had faced drought last year due to a failed monsoon. A good monsoon could help in sowing of rice, sugarcane, soyabean and corn and lead to a rebound in the agricultural output.
A favourable parameter for a normal monsoon was the end of the El Nino event for the year.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (ABM) had announced the conclusion of the El Nino event of 2009-10 saying all major indicators were now below El Nino thresholds.
The periodic warming of the equatorial-to-equatorial east Pacific is known to affect adversely the monsoon precipitation in India.
— PTI
