Monsoon expected to arrive in India on June 6, 'most likely' to be normal

Monsoon rains are expected to arrive in India’s southern coast on June 6, delayed by five days from its usual arrival on around June 1, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

"At present, monsoon has covered some extreme southern part of Arabian Sea and parts of southwest-southeast-east central Bay of Bengal, Andaman sea and Andaman Nicobar islands. In the next two-three days, it'll cover more parts of the Arabian sea," IMD's M Mohapatra was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Meanwhile, the overall monsoon across the country is "most likely" to be normal this season but it will be below normal over north and south India, the IMD said in its forecast.

The El-Nino phenomenon, generally believed to have its impact on monsoon, will continue during the rainy season. However, there is a possibility of these conditions to turn neutral during the later part of the rainfall season, the IMD said.

The El-Nino is linked to the heating of Pacific waters. Monsoon is likely to be below normal in July and normal in August.

"Rainfall over the country as a whole for the 2019 southwest monsoon season is most likely to be normal," the IMD said.

It is likely to be 96 per cent of the Long Period Average, the IMD said. The LPA over the country as a whole from 1951-2000 is 89 centimeters. Anything between 96-104 per cent of the LPA is normal.

Monsoon is categorised as below normal if the LPA is between 90-96 per cent and classified as deficient, if below that. Anything above 110 per cent of the LPA is classified as excess.

Region-wise, the seasonal rainfall is likely to be 94 per cent of LPA over north-west India, 100 per cent of LPA over central India, 97 per cent of LPA over southern peninsula and 91 per cent of LPA over northeast India, all with a model error of plus or minus 8 per cent.

The northwest India sub-division of the IMD covers the entire north India, while the central India subdivision encompasses states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.

The northeast India subdivision covers states of West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and the entire northeast, while the southern peninsula covers the five states of the south and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

"The monthly rainfall over the country as whole is likely to be 95 per cent of its LPA during July and 99 per cent of LPA during August both with a model error of plus or minus 9 per cent.

"The current weak El Nino conditions over Pacific are likely to continue during the monsoon season with some possibility of these conditions to turn to neutral ENSO conditions during the later part of the monsoon season," the IMD said.