This year's monsoon has arrived

Mandsaur

From Reuters:

The southwest monsoon hit India's southern Kerala coast on Sunday, about four days later than normal, but the delay is not likely to have any bad impact on crops, weather officials and traders said.

The arrival of the monsoon, the lifeblood of India's agriculture sector, is keenly watched as two-thirds of the billion-plus population earn a living from the sector, which generates about a quarter of gross domestic product.

Almost two-thirds of farmland rely on the monsoon for water.

Full article here.

dan37_123

wonderful news, i am delighted. We will be arriving in Mumbai on June 18, hopefully by then it had climed to the centra indian region, and will be some welcome respite from the heat.

thanks
dan

crvlvr

I wonder how much rainfall the monsoons will yield this year -- given that we had record rainfall isn Los Angeles this year.

GoanCanuck

Be careful what you wish for! Mumbai can be a ghastly place to be in during the monsoon. The heavy rain can choke the gutters and you find shit floating around.

Indojingai

woohoo... good news to me and the country as a whole.

Because I am thinking to visit home in a month or two. And that ~300 million people count on rains for a better living.

As for travellers... it might make things a bit more issuesome for some or better for the rain happy ...
But hey after a trip to India in the monsoons, you're a lot well prepared for a hoilday in the Amazons...

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seraph

Thanks for conjuring up such a lovely image .

Nonetheless, I would happily give up my kingdom (if I had one) for a proper downpour just about now.

Besides, as the old adage says, "The solution to pollution is dilution."

traceyam

Lucky India. Our monsoon won't start for another month or so!

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anita_5000

great news. just about to leave for india. really don't like the hot and sticky weather; monsoon makes the whole place look fresh and photos taken that time are the best

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Bigzero

Well, i was in kerala this weekend - the monsoon has technically started there on friday or saturday, but the rain is not in top gear yet. The pattern at least during the weekend has been like this - clear morning, overcast & warm afternoon, drizzle by evening and heavy showers in the night. This is not how it typically pours, i guess in another couple of days it will settle down into one consistent downpour for a few days.

I desperately wanted to see some real good rain during the daytime, but sadly it didnt happen.

I had a road trip from hyderabad via bangalore to calicut this weekend, and the bangalore-calicut one was a day trip. it was green all through- obviously, the area has got some pre-monsoon rain. The highlight of the trip was the descent from wynad. It was quite sunny all the way through from bangalore to wynad, but as we approached vythiri ( and the rain-facing side of the western ghats ), the sky turned darker and fog engulfed the area. it was around 4 pm, and the temperature suddenly dropped. i could sense rain ahead and yes, the moment the bus reached the top of the descent (which offers a good view of the plains and the road that goes down in twists and turns ), it started drizzling. We couldnt see the plains at all, since there were low monsoon clouds everywhere. We started our descent into the fog and drizzle, giving way to vehicles coming uphill. Everyone had their lights on as it was somewhat dark.

Soon we were in the plains, and the fog and the drizzle stopped. It remained overcast and sweaty for the rest of the 45 minutes of journey to calicut. I was mildly disappointed as it was already the first week of june, and i was expecting it to rain by this time. But it did rain in the night. long and steady.

I may make another short weekend trip in perhaps 2-3 weeks, and it could be a totally different story by then.

Back to hyderabad, and hope it will start raining next week....

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Susan

this is my first post!!!

I'll be in Tamil Nadu and Kerala in about 3 weeks. How long do monsoons last? Will any of my travel plans need to be changed?

Thanks for any help.

Susan

machadinha

A weekend trip from Hyderabad to Calicut?! And back? How long are your weekends? Just honestly curious really, how do you manage. You spend half your time in the car or what? It's just that when giving itinerary advice here one generally takes it easy telling people not to be too optimistic about how much they can cover and so. Then boom comes along Bigzero covering 1/4 the country in a day

Please enlighten us, maybe it's easier with a car and two drivers and knowing your way or something. Or I'm just way off the mark + exaggerating to boot, far from unlikely

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Anders

In Kerala the monsoon ends in November.

webtraveller

In Tamil Nadu, usually there wont be any Monsoon ( South West Monsoon - the current one)rains at this time of the year. Tamil Nadu gets the rains during the North East Monsoson which is between November through March (Not like the current one, only lesser degree).
So You wont be disturbed in TN. For Kerala, you may not be able to enjoy the Beach during monsoons, but people do go there specifically to enjoy the Monsoons in Kerala.
So decide what do you want and enjoy.
Take care

Bigzero

machadinha, my itinerary was like this:

Thursday night bus to bangalore - left hyderabad at 9 pm, reached bangalore around 7 am.
Friday: Day bus from bangalore to calicut. started at 9 am, reached calicut at 6 on

spent saturday, sunday, monday in calicut.

Left calicut on monday night - at 10.30 pm, reached bangalore at 5.30 am.
Caught the bangalore-hyderabad Air Deccan at 10 am.

Quite hectic, not advised for those looking for a relaxed vacation. but I was not on a vacation, i had some personal work to attend to in calicut.....

ps.... not exactly a weekend trip, considering that i ate up a friday, monday and good part of tuesday too...

markhyd

hey, I was on that plane too (the 10:20 one)! nice little wing dip there before landing.


On topic, great news about the monsoon, can't wait until it hits Hyderabad.