Delay in onset of Monsoon

After a week’s delay, the monsoon has hit the state of Kerala on June 8, a week late than the usually expected arrival date on June 1.

Is Monsoon delayed all over the country?

• Delayed onset of the monsoon has the potential to delay the arrival of the monsoon in other parts of the country, especially in south India since most of the regions getting rainfall within days of it reaching the Kerala coast.
• But it does not mean that the monsoon over the entire country would be delayed because the northward progression of the monsoon from the Kerala coast depends on a lot of local factors like the creation of low-pressure areas.
• Hence It is possible that despite the onset happening late other parts of the country start getting rains on time.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that most of the northern and eastern parts of the country would start receiving rainfall towards the end of June and early July as per the normal trends.
• Whereas southern and central India which have normal monsoon arrival dates in the first, second and third weeks of June, would get delayed rains.

Deficiency of Rainfall?

• The delay in the onset over the Kerala coast also means that the rainfall is likely to be deficient in the month of June.
• The IMD predicts that some of this deficiency would be made up for in July and August and that the overall seasonal rainfall would be around 96 per cent of the normal that it has predicted.

Hence it can be stated that delayed onset does not necessarily mean reduction in the quantum of rainfall. In an average India receives 89 cm of rainfall in a normal monsoon season.