BENGALURU: The initial encouraging signs of an early monsoon have now fizzled out, as the onset of South-West monsoon has been delayed by 2-3 days. The earlier forecast of monsoon covering the entire state by June 7, has now been pushed to June 10.
Apart from the slight delay in kharif sowing, it is not expected to affect the agriculture sector yet, say experts.
Even though monsoon reached the Kerala coast on May 29, its advancement to the Karnataka coast has been affected by two circulations in the Arabian Sea.
According to G S Srinivas Reddy, Director, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell, one of the circulations is pulling the rain-bearing clouds away from the coast. The influence of this weather system is set to weaken over the next few days as it moves towards the Arabian peninsula, he said.
This will boost the second circulation in the Arabian Sea, allowing the monsoon to advance further north from Kerala.
According to India Meteorological Department, the Northern Limit of Monsoon (NLM) — which entered Kerala on May 29 — is still near Kochi in Kerala, as of June 4. Based on historical data, the NLM generally nears Karwar by June 5.
Reddy said initially the signs were encouraging, after monsoon arrived in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, six days ahead of schedule. “After that, the NLM stagnated near Sri Lanka owing to a depression in the Bay of Bengal, which later developed into Cyclone Mora. After Mora made landfall, the westerly in the Arabian Sea is affecting the progress of the monsoon,” he said.
As a result, the earlier forecast of the monsoon covering the State by June 7, has now been advanced to June 10, he added.
Agriculture
While good pre-monsoon rainfall helped farmers who sow crops in the month of May, the late onset of the South-West monsoon may slightly delay any fresh sowing activity. Shadakshari Y G, Director (Research), University of Agricultural Sciences, said the delay will not cause any major problems. “There is still time for fresh sowing to take place,” he said. Last week, the region had recorded good showers and there has been a gap of few days now. Once monsoon reaches, it will cover a large area and help in sowing, he added.