South-West Monsoon Arrives In Mainland India

New Delhi: The South-West monsoon hit the Kerala coast on Saturday morning, raising the hopes of millions reeling under record high temperatures across vast swathes of the Indian sub-continent.

According to the India Meteorological Department, monsoon winds will take between 3-4 weeks to cover the entire Indian landmass.

“Monsoon has made onset over Kerala today,” IMD’s director general-designate Mrutyunjay Mohapatra told PTI.

The arrival of the monsoon was delayed by a good one week, but rainfall will remain “normal” for most of the country, the IMD has forecast.

“…As the monsoon usually hits the Odisha coast around June 10, after hitting the Kerala coast on May 30, the onset of monsoon in Odisha will either be in the later part of the second week of June or early part of the third week of June,” Mahapatra had earlier said.

Pre-monsoon showers have already started in various parts of the state, with the sky remaining mostly cloudy in the past couple of days.