Lack of cross-equatorial flow hinders progress of monsoon

Unfavourable cross-equatorial flow over the Arabian Sea that aids in the progress of the monsoon is one of the reasons for its delay, the national weather agency said on Sunday.

Monsoon reached the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on May 18. But it is yet to cover the entire region, the India Metrological Department said.

Conditions are likely to become favourable for the movement of the southwest monsoon into some more parts of south Bay of Bengal, Andaman Islands and north Andaman Sea during Wednesday-Thursday, the IMD said.

It is also expected to make an onset over Kerala on June 6, five days after its normal onset date, it had said.

The weather department said the monsoon was yet to get traction from the Arabian Sea.

"The slow pace is because of the lack of cross-equatorial flow in the Arabian Sea," Mritunjay Mohapatra, the additional director general of the IMD, said.

Mohapatra attributed the sluggish pace to the unfavourable MaddenJulian oscillation (MJO) and anti-cyclonic ...