Onset of monsoon in state by June 14-15

PATNA: The Patna

Meteorological Centre

on Thursday revised its forecast for the onset of southwest monsoon in Bihar from June 9-10 to June 14-15.

Though the expected arrival of rain-bearing winds has been pushed ahead, weathermen said the monsoon would not be “delayed” as it would still arrive by its normal date of June 10- 15.

“Weather conditions in Bihar are favourable for the onset of monsoon... The pre-monsoon showers being witnessed for the last two days are likely to reduce in intensity from Friday,” Patna Meteorological Centre’s scientist Anand Shankar told TOI on Thursday evening.

The southwest monsoon current enters land area in India in two wings: The eastern wing hits Andaman and advances towards the northeast and eastern parts of the country while the southern wing hits Kerala. Though the southwest monsoon is normally expected to reach the Kerala coast by June 1, this time it arrived on May 30.

The all-India weather bulletin issued by the

Delhi HQ of India Meteorological Department

on Thursday said the southwest monsoon further advanced into more parts of central Arabian sea, remaining parts of coastal Karnataka and entire Goa, parts of Konkan and parts of interior Karnataka.

The bulletin said favourable conditions were developing for further advancement of monsoon into some more parts of Konkan, interior Karnataka, parts of central Maharashtra, Rayalaseema, coastal Andhra Pradesh, central and north Bay of Bengal and remaining parts of Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya and parts of sub-Himalayan West Bengal during the next two-three days.

Lightning kills 15, govt issues advisory: The Bihar State Disaster Management Authority on Thursday issued a fresh advisory for mitigating property losses and damages due to lightning strikes, following the death of 15 people across the state on Wednesday. Disaster management officials said two deaths each were reported from Samastipur, Madhepura, Patna and Sheikhpura; four from Purnia and one each from Vaishali, Muzaffarpur and Lakhisarai districts on Wednesday.

The advisory said at least 60 people died on the day of onset of southwest monsoon in the state last year. Since the onset of monsoon is expected over the next few days, the advisory suggested people to avoid standing near tall tress and electric/ telephone poles during thunderstorms.