Monsoon reaches Andaman sea, Cyclone Amphan to delay onset of rain in mainland India

NEW DELHI:: This year's monsoon has reached the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal due to the Cyclone Amphan, becoming the first major milestone in its progress towards the country, which is expected to get normal rainfall this year.
However, this spells bad news for the farmers awaiting rainfall in mainland India, as this delays the onset of the monsoon by a few days over the country. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had earlier said that the onset of the monsoon in Kerala would be delayed by four days, to June 5.

"Although we will see Andaman and Nicobar islands and parts of the eastern coast experience some rain due to the deep depression in the form of the cyclone, this same phenomena also delays the onset of monsoon onto the mainland regions," said M. Mohapatra, director general of the IMD to ET.

Normal monsoon cheers farmers and boosts rural demand, which is particularly relevant this year as economic activity has been battered by the lockdown.

As per the IMD's revised monsoon schedule, the first southwest monsoon wind was supposed to hit the Andaman sea on May 22, from an earlier date of May 20. Last year, the winds had advanced into the Andaman sea by May 20, but stalled there for over a week, delaying rains for the rest of the country.

"The date of the monsoon winds hitting the Andaman sea is also crucial to the onset of the monsoon wind because usually, we have observed that the monsoon starts in Kerala roughly 10 days after it reaches Andaman," said a senior scientist at IMD. However, he said that this year, the cyclone has made that rule-of-thumb measurement difficult to follow, and will delay the onset in Kerala by a few days.

"It is too early to say whether this will affect the onset of rain in other parts of the country," the weatherman added.

Farmers will be anxiously watching the onset in Kerala, as they will need to complete the pre-sowing operations accordingly. Last year, the rains had a slow start, with June only recording 35% of its total rainfall. This prompted the IMD to revise their onset and withdrawal dates for many parts of the country, delaying them for most regions by 7 to 15 days.