New Delhi, May 10 – The India Meteorological Department (IMD) announced on Saturday that the southwest monsoon is expected to arrive in Kerala on May 27 this year, marking an earlier-than-usual onset. The normal date for monsoon arrival in the southern state is June 1.
As per agency report, if the monsoon arrives in Kerala as forecasted, it will be the earliest since 2009, when the rains reached the Indian mainland on May 23. The official onset of monsoon over the Indian subcontinent is declared once it reaches Kerala.
The southwest monsoon typically covers the entire country by July 8 and begins its withdrawal from northwestern India around September 17, retreating completely by October 15.
In recent years, the monsoon reached Kerala on May 30 in 2024, June 8 in 2023, May 29 in 2022, June 3 in 2021, June 1 in 2020, June 8 in 2019, and May 29 in 2018.
An IMD official clarified that the timing of monsoon onset in Kerala does not directly correlate with the overall monsoon rainfall across the country. "An early or delayed arrival in Kerala does not necessarily indicate a similar pattern for the rest of India. The progression depends on a range of global, regional, and local atmospheric conditions," the official said.
Earlier in April, the IMD forecast above-normal rainfall for the 2025 monsoon season, dismissing concerns of an El Niño effect, which is often linked to deficient rainfall in the Indian subcontinent.
Secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, M Ravichandran, had stated that the country is likely to witness above-average rainfall during the core monsoon months from June to September.
