Monsoon a fortnight early

Dismissing arguments that rains in southern India were the result of a temporary phenomenon, the weather office declared that the south-west monsoon has set in, ahead of schedule, and yesterday it advanced into the northeastern parts of the country, against the normal date of around June 6.

"The monsoon has stabilised over Kerala. It is no longer temporary," said S K Subramanian from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).

Yesterday the monsoon also broke into the northeast with rains in areas like Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh, Subramanian said.

The monsoon had set in over India on May 18, ahead of the usual date of June 1. The IMD had then regarded it as a temporary outbreak due to the cyclone factor. However, the rains have sustained, and it could now be declared the normal outbreak of monsoon, Subramanian said.

He said there was nothing unusual in the monsoon outbreak in May. In 1991, the monsoon had set in over India on May 19.

Conditions are favourable for the further advance of the monsoon into southern parts of Karnataka in the next two days.

However, he said, as far as Delhi was concerned, where the monsoon usually sets in around June 29, nothing could be said as of now. Delhi and other parts of north India may or may not get rains ahead of the usual dates, he added. Both the Bay branch and the Arabian Sea branch are showing normal activity.

The further advancement of the south-west monsoon into southern parts of Karnataka has made the situation favourable for isolated heavy rains in coastal and interior Karnataka and a few places of Konkan and Goa within the next 24 hours, the IMD said here yesterday.

Isolated rainfall is also likely to occur in some parts of Gujarat, central Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

However, heat wave conditions prevailed in some parts of Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and north coastal Andhra Pradesh. The same conditions are likely to continue during next 48 hours, it added.