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Even as India is awaiting the onset of this year’s South-West monsoon along the Kerala coast around May 31 as projected by the India Meteorological Department (IMD,) it would be instructive to look at select geographies in the neighbourhood where the season should have kept its date by now.
The Sri Lankan Meteorological Department on Tuesday declared the onset over the island nation, the penultimate pit-stop before the monsoon caravan reaches Kerala coast. The normal date of onset over Sri Lanka is May 22, and it would be interesting to see whether the slight lag gets transmitted to the crucial leg next.
Heavy falls in Sri Lanka
The Lankan Met forecast showers or thundershowers across the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, and North-Western provinces and in Galle and Matara in the island nation on Tuesday.
Heavy falls above 10 cm were forecast in Sabaragamuwa province, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya and fairly heavy falls above 7.5 cm over the Western and North-Western provinces and in Galle and Matara.
Slight delay in Myanmar
Wind speeds can pick up to a healthy 50-60 km/hr over the island and even 70 km/hr at times along the western slope of the Central hills, Northern, North-Central and North-Western provinces and in Trincomalee and Hambantota, the Lankan Met said.
Myanmar sees the monsoon onset just ahead of Lanka, with May 18 being the date for southern parts of the country. The Myanmar Department of Meteorology and Hydrology declared the onset on Saturday, a day after rains hit the South Bay of Bengal helped in by a low-pressure area that went on to set up cyclone ‘Yaas.’
The season arrives first to The Maldives, farther West-South-West of Kerala, normally by mid-May. No official announcement to the effect is available, but prevailing fairly widespread rain with isolated heavy showers and thunderstorms being reported from the northern and central atolls suggest the obvious.
Scattered showers and a few thunderstorms are expected in the South, the Maldives Meteorological Services said on Tuesday. Surface winds will vary between southwest/westerly at 27 km/hr and may increase to 72-89 km/hr during showers. Seas are expected to be generally rough.
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