Mumbai: Monsoon to arrive in city by June 10

The southwest monsoon winds hit the coast of Kerala on Thursday, two days behind its regular schedule, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. As per IMD’s regional meteorological centre, Mumbai, the monsoon will set over the city and adjoining areas between June 10 and 11.
“The southwest monsoon winds have advanced in some parts of the south Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep area, south Kerala, south Tamil Nadu, parts of Comorin like Maldives area and some more parts of southwest Bay of Bengal on Thursday. Thus, the southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala on Thursday, as against the normal date of June 1,” said Shubhangi Bhute, scientist at IMD’s RMC, Mumbai.
“The monsoon will further advance over some more parts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Karnataka and Rayalaseema in the next two days,” the Met department said on Thursday.
The southwest monsoon arrived over south of Andaman and Nicobar Islands on May 21, it took almost a fortnight to advance towards Kerala.
“As per our calculations, the actual monsoon will establish in Mumbai by June 10. However, until then the city is likely to witness pre-monsoon showers,” said Rajesh Kapadia, Mumbai-based weatherman and founder of the popular private weather blog, ‘Vagaries of Weather’.

The IMD tracks the course of the monsoon every year, as it moves from the Andaman Sea towards Kerala by the end of May. Last week, the IMD had said that the monsoon was likely to arrive in Kerala on May 31, a day ahead of its normal schedule. However, it seems that it might arrive a few days earlier.

India receives over 70% of its annual rainfall between June and September. This year, the Met department expects a normal-to-above-normal seasonal rainfall over the country. Quantitatively, the all-India rainfall has been projected at 101 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA).