High winds, rough seas and thundershowers have been forecast over Andaman & Nicobar Islands where the South-West monsoon announced its arrival yesterday.

An India Met Department (IMD) alerted fishermen to exercise caution and advised them not to venture out given the possibility of winds speeding up to 40 km/hr and gusting to 50 km/hr.

Early arrival

The monsoon arrived in the southeastern outpost, its first in India's territorial waters, yesterday, a day earlier than forecast and ahead by a week compared to the median historical onset date of May 20.

Its arrival over the mainland is a keenly awaited event, the normal time line for which is June 1 when the first wave of significant showers happen along the country's southwest coast along Kerala.

Meanwhile, widespread pre-monsoon thundershowers have been reported from many parts of the country, including the North-East and the South Peninsula.

Favourable conditions

An IMD outlook said that even North-West would experience thundershowers during the next few days even as the prevailing heat wave will migrate towards Central and East India.

It also assessed that conditions are suitable for the monsoon to enter more areas of the Bay of Bengal and the remaining parts of Andaman & Nicobar Islands during the next two days.

The northern limit of the monsoon (the maximum line of coverage) passed through Hut Bay in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands this noon.

Global models pointed towards a well coordinated progress of the monsoon both in the Bay and the Arabian Sea, with rains escalating over Kerala during the last week of May.

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