The southwest monsoon is expected to reach the Kerala coast around its normal date of June 1 and earlier than forecast by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
This is because conditions are becoming favourable for monsoon winds to advance as a low pressure area is expected to develop over the Arabian Sea between May 31 and June 4.
An area of low pressure formed over west-central and adjoining southwest Arabian Sea on Thursday. It is likely to intensify into a depression on Thursday and move northwestwards towards the south Oman and east Yemen coasts during the next three days.
It is also likely to intensify into a cyclone but may not impact India’s west coast, IMD scientists said.
Another low pressure area is likely to form over southeast and adjoining east-central Arabian Sea, close to the Indian coast between May 31 and 4 June.
“Scattered low and medium clouds with embedded intense to very intense convection lay over southeast and west central Arabian Sea,” IMD said in its cyclone bulletin for Thursday.
IMD director general M Mohapatra said: “The second low pressure area is likely to bring rain to the west coast and make conditions favourable for advancement of monsoon earlier than expected. We can expect onset of the monsoon over Kerala around June 1 or 2.”
He added, “This low pressure area is close to the Indian coast and is likely to bring rain. The present low pressure area is far from our coast and isn’t likely to have a huge impact on the west coast. It’s already very close to the Yemen and Oman coasts.”