Monsoon over Andaman Sea 3 days early

PUNE: The southwest monsoon has advanced over parts of Andaman Sea, while conditions are favourable for its further advance over some more parts of the south Bay of Bengal and remaining parts of Andaman Sea and the east-central Bay of Bengal during the next two to three days, the India Meteorological Department has forecast. The normal date for arrival of monsoon over the Andaman Sea is May 20. However, it has arrived three days earlier than the normal date this year, mainly due to a combination of factors, including cyclonic storm 'Mahasen' that had hit the Bangladesh coast two days ago. On May 15, the IMD had issued a forecast stating that the monsoon onset over Kerala, which signals the beginning of the rainy season in the country, is likely to occur on June 3, as against the normal onset date of June 1. Last year, the monsoon onset over Kerala occurred on June 5, i.e. four days behind schedule. The IMD has sounded out a four-day error margin for its forecast of monsoon onset over Kerala this year. The IMD's all-India weather bulletin stated, "An upper air cyclonic circulation over east Uttar Pradesh and neighbourhood areas persists with a trough extending to Tamil Nadu across Chhattisgarh and interior Andhra Pradesh. Another trough extends from Uttar Pradesh to Assam in lower levels. An upper air cyclonic circulation over south Andaman Sea persists, while a feeble western disturbance would affect western Himalayan region from Sunday onwards." The weather forecasting agency has sounded out a warning of thunder squall at one or two places in Odisha, West Bengal and Sikkim during the next two days. Similarly, heavy rainfall would occur at one or two places in Andaman and Nicobar islands, Assam, and Meghalaya in the next two days. In contrast, heat wave conditions will prevail in some parts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, east Uttar Pradesh, Vidarbha and Telangana during the next 48 hours, the bulletin stated. Source: TOI