A man rows his boat in the tributary waters of Vembanad Lake against the backdrop of pre-monsoon clouds on the outskirts of Kochi, India, June 7, 2019. REUTERS/Sivaram V
June 8, 2019
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s annual monsoon, which delivers about 70 percent of the country’s rainfall, arrived on the coast of southern Kerala state on Saturday, a government official at India’s weather office said.
The weather office said in April that India, where half of the farmland lacks irrigation, would likely receive average monsoon rains this year.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) declares the arrival of monsoon rains only after parameters measuring consistency of rainfall over a defined geography, intensity, cloudiness and wind speed are satisfied.
(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; editing by Richard Pullin)
