Thursday, May 14, 2009

Low pressure may spur monsoon

India's monsoon could arrive a few days earlier than usual, sped up by a low pressure area around Lakshadweep from mid-May, a weather official said on Wednesday.

"We are expecting some low pressure area around Lakshadweep from 18th May...If the low pressure area becomes a cyclone, the monsoon will arrive faster," a director-level official of the Indian Meteorological Department told Reuters.

The monsoon normally arrives around June 1 in Kerala. Lakshadweep is an adjoining island and a part of Indian territory.

Earlier, the government predicted India's annual monsoon at 96 percent of the long-term average, which would make it the worst season in five years, although the near normal forecast raised hope for economic support and bumper crops.

The weather office regards rainfall to be nearly normal if it ranges from 96 percent to 104 percent of the long-term average.

A weather official based in Pune in western India echoed similar hopes on the back of a low pressure formation.

"The monsoon may come a few days earlier...formation of low pressure area may influence the monsoon flow," D.Sivananda Pai, director of government-run National Climate Center at Pune, said on Wednesday.

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