KERALA RECIEVES FIRST SHOWERS

Rains hit Kerala but the Met department tonight refused to immediately describe it as arrival of the Monsoon which is already late by five days. "Kerala received good amount of rain today," said Shailesh Nayak, secretary, Ministry of Earth Science. He, however, added that the Meteorological Department would still take a few more hours and see if the rainfall and conditions fall under the catergory to declare it as the arrival of monsoon. "Rainfall occurred at many places over Kerala and at a few places over Lakshadweep and North interior Karnataka. Isolated rainfall occurred over Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, Tamil Nadu, Coastal and South interior Karnataka," the Met department said. Indian Meterological Department Director General LS Rathore said, "We are still treating this as a pre-monsoon shower. We will be monitoring the situation for the next few hours only after which we will be in a position to declare the arrival of monsoon." To declare the arrival of monsoon, one of the two important parameters is continuous rain for over 48 hours with a windspeed of 15 to 20 knots, he added. Monsoon normally hits Kerela on June 1 but this year, Met department had predicted that it will hit the state on June 5. The department had predicted heavy rains and thunderstorms even today. A late night bulletin of Met department said "conditions are favourable for the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala and its further advance into some parts of South of Arabian sea, remaining parts of Maldives-Coromin area, some parts of Tamil Nadu and Bay of Bengal during the next 24 hours." It said, "Conditions are favourable for advance of southwest monsoon in some parts of northeastern states during the next 48 hours."