Cyclone Nisarga: Southwest monsoon sets in over Kerala: IMD

Cyclone Nisarga:  The Southwest Monsoon has arrived over Kerala, exactly on the day it was predicted to hit the coastal state, the India Meteorological Department said on Monday.

The weather bureau earlier this week said that monsoon rains were likely to hit India around June 1. This was a revision of its earlier onset forecast of June 5. In 2019, the monsoon had hit Kerala on June 8.

"Southwest Monsoon has set in over Kerala today, the 1st June 2020," the IMD stated.

Conditions have favourable for the onset of the monsoon over Kerala due to the formation of Cyclone Nisarga over Arabian Sea.

On April 15, Madhavan Rajeevan, Secretary of Ministry of Earth Sciences forecast that monsoon rains this year are likely to be normal at 100 per cent of the long period average with a model error of 5 per cent.

The IMD will issue a second stage long-range forecast for the monsoon later in the day.