Port Blair receives heavy rain while Kerala awaits Monsoon arrival

Since the time Southwest Monsoon hit Andaman and Nicobar Islands on May 18, light to moderate rain has been lashing to Port Blair city since then. The weather in the region has already started witnessing variation in terms of change in wind pattern, clouding, high humidity and temperatures. Thus, showing favourable conditions for the onset of Southwest Monsoon on time this year.

Southwest Monsoon first makes onset over Andaman and Nicobar Islands with official onset date on May 20 and then advances to cover more parts of Bay and Kerala. However, this year, Monsoon 2016 arrived before time over the Islands.

Port Blair has recorded 78 mm of rain in last 24 hours and 157 mm of rain since the Monsoon hit its shores. The city has almost received half of its monthly average rainfall that stands at 339.3 mm. As per the pattern, the first half of the month does not see any heavy showers but the rain activity picks up in the second half of the month.

May is the rainiest month during the pre-Monsoon season for Port Blair. Even the lowest rain during May in last 10 years was 230 mm in 2014, which was a drought year. While, the highest in May was 976 mm of rain recorded in 2008.

A good chance of moderate to heavy rain is likely in Port Blair for next few days as Southwest Monsoon is expected to remain active over the region. These heavy rains over Andaman & Nicobar Islands are also giving positive indication towards timely onset of Monsoon 2016 over Kerala and rest of India.

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