Pre-Monsoon heat was prominent over Kerala this year. Many areas in the state observed prolonged heatwave conditions. In fact, the month of May was one of the hottest of the season.
However, during the last two to three days, short spell of rain has been affecting a few areas in the state. Also, fairly widespread rain has occurred over many parts of Kerala during the last 24 hours. Isolated pockets recorded heavy rainfall as well.
During the last 24 hours from 8:30 am on Wednesday, Alappuzha recorded a whopping 50.2 mm of rain, followed by Kochi where 36.6 mm of rain was received. Other places to have received good rains include Kottayam 14 mm, Thiruvananthapuram 5.5 mm, Punalur 4.8 mm, and Kozhikode 3.1 mm rainfall.
For the state of Kerala, there is a thin line between the rain pattern during the Pre-Monsoon season and the Monsoon season. The same Pre-Monsoon event takes us through the much awaited Monsoon season.
However, as far as cloud pattern is concerned, Monsoon season is associated with stratus or sheet clouds or a mix of both sheet and vertical clouds. While during the Pre-Monsoon season, vertical clouds build up giving rain over the region.
Monsoon has a history of making an onset over Kerala both around a week early and a tad bit late. In fact, during the year 2005, the onset of Monsoon occurred as late as on June 7 against the early onset of May 23 in the year 2009. Since the last two consecutive years, Monsoon has arrived over Kerala on June 5(2015) and June 6 (2014).
While the most important parameter for Monsoon remains rain with slight change in the cloud pattern, a minimum of 2.5 mm rain for two consecutive days over 60 percent of the 14 stations in Kerala is essential for the onset of Monsoon.
Persistent rains over Kerala do suggest that Monsoon is just round the corner. Soon, Keralites will bathe in the much awaited Monsoon rains.
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Please Note: Any information picked from here must be attributed to skymetweather.com
