The India Meteorological Department (IMD) declared the onset of monsoon onset over Kerala on Thursday, a week later than it normally does. “The southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala today, June 8," the weather office said in an official statement. Conditions are favourable for the monsoon to advance into the central Arabian Sea and some parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states, the IMD said.
Furthermore, IMD has also predicted heatwave conditions over certain parts of the country this week.
According to the IMD, Heatwave to severe heatwave conditions are likely to prevail over Bihar between June 8 and 12 and over gangetic West Bengal and Jharkhand from June 8 to 11. Heatwave conditions are also likely to prevail over Odisha the the sub-Himalayan West Bengal region during June 8-10, over Telangana on June 8,9 and over parts of Uttar Pradesh till June 11.
The weather office has predicted that heatwave conditions are likely to continue in most parts of Jharkhand till June 12. A heatwave alert was also issued for state capital Ranchi, it said. Ranchi Meteorological Centre in-charge Abhishek Anand said, “Any major change in the maximum temperature is unlikely for at least the next five days. The weather will be mainly dry.”
The national capital is likely to witness light rain and generally cloudy skies on today, the weather office said. On 8 June, the maximum temperature in the city settled at 39.9 degrees Celsius and the minimum at 23.9 degrees Celsius, four notches below the season's average, the IMD said in its bulletin.
IMD official told PTI that the progress of the southwest monsoon that brings rain across the Indian sub continent is being monitored after it arrived in Kerala. The normal date for onset of monsoon in Maharashtra is June 10 and in Mumbai is June 11, said S G Kamble, the Mumbai head of IMD Regional Meteorological Centre. "The progress of the monsoon is being monitored. We will be able to talk about the monsoon onset over Maharashtra in the next two-three days," he said. Meteorological officials earlier said Cyclone 'Biparjoy' had been impacting the intensity of the monsoon and that its onset over Kerala would be "mild".
-Light/moderate fairly widespread rainfall with thunderstorm/lightning/gusty winds very likely over Kerala, Lakshadweep, Coastal & South Interior Karnataka; isolated to scattered activity over North Interior Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh during next 5 days.
-Heavy rainfall at isolated places over Andaman & Nicobar Islands during 08th-10th June; Kerala during 08th-12th June; Lakshadweep during 09th-11th; and Coastal and South Interior Karnataka during 10th-12th June
-Very Heavy rainfall very likely at isolated places over Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura on 09th June and Assam & Meghalaya on 12th June.
-Isolated heavy rainfall over Arunachal Pradesh and Assam and Meghalaya during 09th-12th June and in Manipur and Mizoram during 8th-12th June.
Meanwhile, Cyclone Biparjoy is set to intensify in the next 36 hours and will be heading north-northwestwards in the next two days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a tweet on Friday. The very severe cyclonic storm was located over the east-central Arabian Sea located 840-kilometer west-southwest of Goa and 870 km west-southwest of Mumbai at 11:30 pm on June 8, the IMD said. The western coast of India is slated to receive heavy rainfall over the weekend as Cyclone Biparjoy gains momentum. Meteorologists had earlier said that the storm was impacting the intensity of the monsoon and that its onset over Kerala would be "mild".
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