Far spread monsoon and slow

This year unexpectedly the southwest monsoon has advanced to almost all of north-india before the end of June.
Take a look at the latest Northern limit of south west monsoon...


Chennai is experiencing some evening showers (sometimes with thunder), during this month. This feature is quiet common during the early stages of south west monsoon.
June rainfall is above average.

Monsoon slowing down!!!

Monsoon has not picked up pace, in fact it's slowing down...
Take a look at the latest satellite pic and we'll put across the reason for in our next post...

South west monsoon sets IN

Thiruvananthapuram, May 31

Southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala on Saturday, two days later than predicted by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), but a day earlier than the normal for onset over the southwest coast.

An IMD update on Saturday said the monsoon has covered most parts of south Arabian Sea and Kerala, parts of Tamil Nadu and southwest and west-central Bay of Bengal.

Rainfall occurred at most places over Kerala and at a few places over Lakshadweep, coastal and south interior Karnataka. Isolated rainfall occurred over coastal Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and north interior Karnataka.

The rainfall along the west coast is expected to get more organised during the first two weeks of June under the influence of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), a wave of anomalous precipitation passing from West Africa into the Indian Ocean and further east into the west Pacific.

On Saturday, the northern limit of monsoon passed through Kozhikode (north Kerala) and Tiruchi (Tamil Nadu). Conditions are favourable for its further advance into more parts of Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Kerala and more parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Bay of Bengal and the North-East States during the next three days.

The offshore trough extending along the Karnataka-Kerala coast persisted on Saturday. An east-west shear zone of monsoon turbulence ran across the extreme south peninsula.

A warning issued by the IMD said isolated heavy rain is likely to occur over coastal Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep during the next two days. Squally weather with wind speeds reaching 45-55 km/hour is likely along and off the Kerala coast and over Lakshadweep area during the next two days.

South west monsoon forecast - 2008

Here is the latest SW-monsoon forecast from IMD...

Heat coming down.

Chennai has experienced some cruel days during the month of May-08.
Take a look at the last 5 days temperatue chart...

May month's highest recorded temperature was 42.9°C.

Now that the South-west wind has come up, the temperature has come down and moreover we are experiencing some CHILL winds during afternoons & evenings.

Crazy storm chasing video

South west monsoon is near..

As we can see the early signs of Southwest winds and rains over South bay.

"Conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon into some more parts of south Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea during next 48 hours."... reported by IMD.

Going by the latest satellite pic also we can see the monsoon cloud mass and the direction of air current.

Here in Chennai, humidity is bit low and the daily average Max temperature stands at 40 degrees celcius.
Here is the past 5 days humidity chart.

For the past 3 days including today (13-May-08) some parts of Chennai was experiencing some Electric showers.
Since the south west winds has started coming up during evenings, it's bringing in some moisture and lowering the temperature.
This condition will increase in activity and Chennai will have a nice WET electric evening in days to come.
Expect it!!

The path of destruction..."Nargis"

Some cruel remains of "Nargis"

"Nargis" - Aftermath

The effect of Cyclone Nargis on Burma (Myanmar) has been devastating and international relief is only trickling into the country. The military junta continues to bar access to most international disaster relief specialists and continues to block aid. So a natural disaster threatens to become a a humanitarian crisis of genuinely epic proportions.
With 22,500 dead and 41,000 missing, most of them from a massive storm surge that washed over the Irrawaddy delta, it is the most devastating cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people died in neighbouring Bangladesh.
Without proper sanitation and clean water people still scavenging in the inundated remains of their homes could fall victim to waterborne diseases-----cholera, dysentery, dengue and malaria epidemics spreading among survivors is a frightening possibility. Burma is on the brink of a “devastating public health crisis” if help is not allowed to flow across its borders immediately.
The UN says that 'thousands of bodies' were floating in nearly 2,000 square miles of the flooded Irrawaddy delta.The junta's refusal of international humanitarian aid is, the UN laments, “unprecedented”. The United Nations has said that it had a responsibility to protect' the civilians victims of crimes against humanity regardless of whether sovereign governments wanted them to or not.