The 24 hours ending at 8.30 a.m. on Sunday was the wettest day so far during this poor monsoon season for Kerala, with the area-weighted rainfall received by the State touching 47 mm.
The active phase onto which the monsoon climbed on July 10, after a lull of nearly three weeks, has brought down the rainfall deficiency for the State during the season beginning on June 1 to 33 per cent as on July 13, from the level of 44 per cent as on July 9. Against a normal of 990.8 mm of rainfall for the period from June 1 to July 13, the State received 662.7 mm of rainfall, according to the meteorology centre here.
The week ending on July 20 too holds the promise of good downpour for the State. The weather charts of the India Meteorology Department (IMD) on Sunday predicted fairly widespread rainfall during the weak ahead all along the West Coast, including Kerala.
A low pressure system now in position over Northwest Bay of Bengal could persist during the better part of the week, wheeling the monsoon flow from southwest Arabian Sea across Peninsular India. The system’s position is such as to cause good rainfall over Kerala as it siphons the monsoon flow towards it. Heavy precipitation will also be facilitated by an offshore trough at mean sea level that will persist from the Gujarat coast to Kerala coast during the week. North Kerala will experience the heavier of the downpours during the week ahead.