The chain of Islands in the South Andaman Sea and adjoining Southeast Bay of Bengal (BoB) are north-south oriented. Nancowry located around 8°N and Maya Bander at 13°N are the respective prominent southernmost and northernmost islands. All these islands in the Andaman Sea are positioned between 92°E and 93°E longitude. Pre-monsoon showers are generally very strong in the month of May. Normal rainfall for the month of May ranges between 300mm and 400mm.
Under the influence of super cyclone Mocha which crossed the Myanmar coast on 14th May, all these islands received decent showers during its formation stage. Thereafter, mostly there is a lull and some of the islands like Car Nicobar, Hut Bay and Maya Bander have not rained for the last 10 days. Nancowry, Car Nicobar and Port Blair have received 83.5mm, 143mm and 70mm of rainfall against their monthly normal of 298.5mm, 333mm and 407.2mm respectively. All the islands have about 15-20 rainy days during this month. However, pre-monsoon showers have literally receded after cyclone Mocha cleared BoB.
Southwest Monsoon made a soft ingress over extreme southern parts of the Andaman Sea and the equatorial region on 19th May 2023. The northern limit of monsoon (NLM) is stationary till now. The normal date for the major island Port Blair is 22nd May and the monsoon stream is yet to reach. The cross-equatorial flow is visible over South BoB, albeit it is mild and weak in strength. The chain of these islands may receive scattered light showers over the next few days. Heavy showers announcing the typical march of Monsoon are likely only towards the fag end of the month.
