IMD declares monsoon arrival

MOST DELAYED ARRIVAL IN FOUR YEARS

- SANDIP DAS

THE INDIA METEOROLOGICAL Department (IMD) on Thursday announced the onset of the southwest monsoon over Kerala, ending uncertainty over the start of the annual phenomenon, which still plays an important role in India's agricultural prospects. This marked the most delayed arrival of monsoon in the last four years.

"While this arrival over Kerala is delayed by more than a week compared to its normal date of June 1, it falls within the error window of IMD's initial onset predictions, which lasted until June 8," according to a Met department statement.

The department had earlier said monsoon normally sets in over Kerala on June 1, with a standard deviation of about days. In the seven last 10 years, the earliest arrival was in 2018 and 2022 (May 29), and the most delayed onset was in 2019 (June 8).