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The country’s southwest monsoon is expected to hit the Andaman isslands in the next two or three days, said a senior India Meteorological Department (IMD) official.
Adding: “The current cyclonic formation, ’Mahasen’, is favourable for the progress of the monsoon,” said the official, who did not wish to named.
Usually, the southwest monsoon hits these islands around May 20 and takes at least another 10 days to hit Kerala. The IMD is likely to make an announcement regarding the monsoon onset over Kerala on Wednesday.
In 2012, development of the monsoon current over the southern Bay of Bengal and South Andaman Sea was delayed by three days. This year, it is expected to be on course. Officials said if all went well, the southwest monsoon should hit the Kerala coast around June 1 or even a couple of days earlier.
These rains are crucial for Indian agriculture, as only 40 per cent of agricultural land in the country is irrigated.
In the first official forecast of the 2013 southwest monsoon, the IMD last month said it was expected to be normal this year. In the four-month period, the rains would be 98 per cent of the long-period average (LPA), IMD predicted.
Rains between 95 and 105 per cent of the LPA are considered normal. IMD’s prediction has an error range of plus/minus five per cent.
