NEW DELHI: The southwest monsoon has sluggishly advanced into more parts of southern India. Experts say it will strengthen in two weeks but will be delayed in reaching central and northern India.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said the monsoon has reached parts of central Arabian Sea, most parts of Karnataka, south Maharashtra, and west-central and northwest Bay of Bengal.
The IMD said conditions were favourable for the monsoon’s further advancement. In the next 3-4 days, it will be all over Karnataka and coastal Andhra Pradesh and some more parts of Maharashtra (including Mumbai), Telangana, Chhattisgarh and south Odisha.
Former secretary in the Ministry of Earth and Science Madhavan Rajeevan confirmed that the monsoon has weakened.
“Monsoon advances in 3-4 spells. In the first spell, cyclone Remal weakened to some extent and another phase would come and push it further and will revive only after June 20,” said Rajeevan.
“The monsoon’s progression has been declared up to south Maharashtra, but there is hardly any strong and deep monsoon flow along most of coastal Karnataka and Goa as per the IMD model,” said Akshay Deoras, research scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, UK. “It would have made more sense to wait for 2-3 days since the monsoon is going to strengthen,” he added.
Earlier, the monsoon set in on May 30 on Kerala coast, two days earlier than its schedule, and advanced into northeast region six days early.
To speed up in 3-4 days
In the next 3-4 days, monsoon will be all over Karnataka and coastal AP
It will gain speed in two weeks, but will be delayed over central and northern areas of the country
No strong monsoon flow along most of coastal Karnataka and Goa
Monsoon is expected revive only after June 20
What IMD says
The IMD forecasts that this monsoon season is likely to be above normal, that is 106% of the Long Period Average. It will be above normal over central India, normal over northwest India and below-normal over northeast.