Monsoon arrives early, reaches Kerala and Northeast at the same time in 'rare phenomenon'

In a rare phenomenon, the monsoon has arrived early and entered both Kerala and the Northeast at the same time. Weather scientists said Cyclone remal which ripped through West Bengal and Bangladesh on Sunday, had pulled the monsoonal flow to the Bay of Bengal and it could be one of the reasons for early onset over the northeast.

The last time this happened was in 2017 when Cyclone Mora had caused an early onset of the Southwest monsoon which usually arrives on June 1 in Kerala and on June 5 in the Northeast.

Kerala has been receiving heavy rains for the past few days resulting in a surplus May rainfall, the weather office data showed.

The IMD said on Thursday that the monsoon has set in over the southern state and also advanced into most of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya and Assam. Many of these states are already reeling from the impact of Cyclone Remal.

On the other hand, the early onset on the monsoon is likely to offer respite from a gruelling heat wave that has driven maximum temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius in some northern and western regions.

India is likely to receive an average amount of rain in June, although maximum temperatures are likely to stay above normal, the IMD said, with the monsoon this year expected to be 106 percent of the long-term average.