Southwest Monsoon that was going through a subdued phase over the West Coast of Peninsular India during the second half of July. Particularly Kerala has been seeing a well below normal monsoon so far with the deficit at 20% lesser than normal so far. While during the early part of June saw many areas of Kerala receive thunderstorm rains with the delayed monsoon onset happening the rains have been inconsistent with large patches of pseudo dry weather prevailing in the state.
It has been similar story in Coastal Karnataka as well where the Southwest Monsoon has been pretty much subdued for most parts of July particularly after 7th of July until which the region had a very active Southwest Monsoon phase which started around the second fortnight of June. This poor phase of monsoon is also showing up in the dam levels like Linganamakki, Supa & Varahi which are seeing levels that are far lesser than last year, 2015 was one of the worst Southwest Monsoon in recent times, despite that the levels are lower this year compared to last year.
Things are expected to improve from the weekend as a combination of a off shore trough and the UAC over Central India playing an aiding role in terms of aligning the monsoon surge. While parts of Coastal Karnataka are likely to see improved rainfall from today, North Kerala should start seeing heavy rainfall in a few places from tomorrow. This is likely to come as a major relief not only to the people of Karnataka but also the Cauvery Basin of Tamil Nadu as good rainfall in the South Karnataka & North Kerala region particularly around Kodagu, Wayanad & Hassan districts could improve inflows into reservoirs like Kabini & KRS providing for earlier inflow into the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur.
