Monsoon hits God's own country
The Indian Meteorological Department in its initial forecast had said that monsoon would hit Kerala on June 7. On Tuesday, it predicted that the onset of monsoon would be by June 9. In tandem with the prediction, several parts of Kerala received heavy rainfall on Wednesday.
In Short
- Rains finally hit Kerala.
- IMD in its initial forecast said that monsoon would hit Kerala on June 7.
- Widespread rainfall in the state for the past 48 hours.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) once again hit the bull's eye with its weather prediction as the southwest monsoon reached Kerala on Wednesday.
Till 2008-09, IMD had a poor accuracy record for predicting monsoon and other weather events such as fog in winters and temperature in summers, but recently the department has improved its predictions. The usual date for onset of monsoon is June 1.
HERE COMES THE RAIN
This year, IMD in its initial forecast had said that monsoon would hit Kerala on June 7. On Tuesday, it predicted that onset of monsoon would be by June 9. In tandem with the prediction, several parts of Kerala received heavy rainfall on Wednesday.
IMD declared monsoon over Kerala after several parts of the state reported widespread rainfall for the past 48 hours with more than 60 per cent of weather stations recording rainfall on June 7 and 8. Also, the Westerly and West southwesterly winds of the order of 30-40 kmph were observed up to 600 hPa (approximately up to 4.5 km) over the south Arabian Sea.
The satellite (INSAT-3D) derived Outgoing Longwave Radiation value was less than 200 W/m2 on June 8.
"The IMD used to face criticism for inaccurate forecasts earlier. But we have really improved in recent year because we have pooled in a lot of efforts in each and every areas for predicting weather conditions," said Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences.
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