Monsoon to arrive in Kerala 5 days late on June 6: IMD

Kerala : The monsoon will arrive in Kerala this year with a delay of five days on June 6, said the India Meteorological Department on Wednesday. "This year, the statistical model forecast suggests that the monsoon onset over Kerala is likely to be slightly delayed," the IMD said. 

"The southwest monsoon onset is likely to set over Kerala on 6th June with a model error of plus or minus 4 days."

"Conditions are becoming favourable for advance of southwest monsoon over the southern part of Andaman Sea, Nicobar Islands and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal during May 18-19," it added.

Normally, the monsoon arrives in Kerala on June 1.

Both IMD and Skymet have made a similar prediction about the monsoon arrival this year. The Skymet had said on Tuesday that the monsoon would hit the Kerala coast on June 4, with an error margin of two days.

If the monsoon arrives late, it will be third such instance since 2014 when it arrived on June 5, followed by June 6 in 2015 and June 8 in 2016.