Southwest Monsoon arrives in Kerala three days ahead of scheduled date

Met dept confirms that conditions have been satisfied for declaration of onset; 10 of 14 monitoring stations report rainfall of 2.5 mm or more in past 24 hours

In what could come as a relief to millions, the southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala on Sunday, three days ahead of its normal onset date of June 1, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The Met department said conditions have been satisfied for declaration of onset of monsoon over Kerala on Sunday.

These conditions are depth of westerly winds extending up to 4.5 km above mean sea level and strength of the westerly winds increasing over southeast Arabian Sea.

They also include a rise in cloudiness over southeast Arabian Sea and adjoining areas of Kerala and widespread rainfall activity over Kerala