The Hindu Business Line : Wet spell, main weather feature in Kerala

THE most notable feature of the week ending Sunday last (October 5) was the withdrawing southwest monsoon suddenly coming alive and turning vigorous, bringing the entire geographic area under its coverage.

This provided a starkly different picture from the onset phase, when it left the southern parts of the State with hardly any rain while treating the northern districts to some of its magic.

This `biased' onset nearly threw the drinking water supply and irrigation networks in the southern districts of Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram out of gear, but the current spell intervened in good time and helped reverse a potential crisis situation in these districts.

Giving its update on the latest on the monsoon front, the agromet advisory bulletin from the Met Office, Thiruvananthapuram, said the southwest monsoon was vigorous over the State on Friday (October 3), active on Thursday (October 2) and Sunday (October 5) while being weak on Monday (September 29).

This means the turnaround happened on Thursday, largely fed by the upper layer `cycer' located to the Kanya Kumari coast on October 1 (Wednesday).

Chief amounts of rainfall in cm were: Monday, Sept 29: Kunnamkulam and Munnar-2 each.

Wednesday: Munnar-7, Chertala, Devicolam and Koilandy-2 each. Thursday: Thiruvananthapuram AP-7, Thiruvananthapuram City and Kozhikode-4 each, Nedumangad, Konni, Thodupuzha and Devicolam-3 each.

Friday: Nedumangad-12, Thiruvananthapuram City-9, Thodupuzha-8, Punalur-7, Alappuzha, Kottayam and Chengannur-6 each. Saturday: Thodupuzha-6, Karipur AP and Munnar-3 each, Thiruvananthapuram AP and City, Punalur, Konni, Thrissur and Varkala-2 each.

Sunday: Aryankavu-7, Kollam-5, Punalur, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram City and Thodupuzha-3 each.

Mean maximum temperature varied between 30 deg Celsius and 33 deg Celsius. Punalur recorded the highest maximum temperature of 33.6 deg Celsius on Wednesday. Mean minimum temperature varied between 22 deg Celsius and 25 deg Celsius, with Alappuzha recording the lowest, 21.6 deg Celsius, on Friday.

Mean relative humidity varied between 71 per cent and 90 per cent, mean cloud average between 5 oktas and 7 oktas and mean wind speeds, between 2 kmph and 6 kmph.

Forecast valid till Wednesday (October 8) spoke about rain/thundershowers at many places. Isolated heavy rain has also been forecast at some places. No significant change was seen for the two subsequent days (Wednesday and Thursday).

State and stage of crops: Harvesting of `virippu' (the first crop) is almost over while land preparation, sowing and transplanting for the `mundakan' (second crop) are in progress.

Weeding, fertiliser and manure application continued in coconut and arecanut gardens. New planting has begun in respect of banana, tapioca and seasonal vegetables.

The agricultural advisory for the coming three days said transplanting of seedlings should be resorted to after two weeks following the application of organic manure in the `mundakan' fields. Weeding and manuring can continue in coconut, arecanut, cashew and spices.

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