Southwest monsoon set to arrive early, onset over Andaman & Nicobar Islands likely on May 15

The Southwest Monsoon is set to arrive early with the Andaman and Nicobar Islands expected to receive first seasonal showers on May 15, the weather office said on Thursday.

"Southwest Monsoon is likely to advance into South Andaman Sea & adjoining Southeast Bay of Bengal around May 15, 2022," the India Meteorological Department said in a statement.

Weather scientists said that extended range forecasts have consistently suggested favourable conditions for an early monsoon onset over Kerala and its northward movement. The early onset of monsoon could bring cheer as most parts of the country witnessed extremely high temperatures over the past fortnight.

The normal onset date for monsoon over Kerala is June 1. The weather office said fairly widespread to widespread light/moderate rainfall is very likely over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands during the next five days. Rainfall is also predicted over several southern locations like Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and Karaikal in the next 48 hours. The northeastern states expected to witness rainfall are Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland.

The archipelago is very likely to experience isolated heavy falls over the region from May 14 to May 16. It said squally weather with wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph to 60 kmph was also likely over South Andaman Sea on May 15 and May 16.

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