The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued orange warnings in six Kerala districts for June 26 and 27, as parts of the state are expected to receive heavy rains in the coming days.

An orange or ‘Be alert’ warning has been issued for the southern districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Idukki for Friday, June 26 while Wayanad and Kozhikode have been issued an orange warning for Saturday, June 27.

According to the weather forecast, Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts are set to receive isolated and heavy rains to very heavy rainfall (115.6 - 204.4 mm) while Pathanamthitta and Idukki are likely to see extremely heavy rains (higher than 204.4 mm) on June 26. Meanwhile, Alappuzha, Palakkad, Thrissur, Ernakulam and Kottayam have been placed on yellow alert (‘Be updated’).

Both Wayanad and Kozhikode are expected to receive extremely heavy rainfall on Saturday, June 27, according to the forecast. A yellow alert has been issued to Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kannur and Kasaragod for the same day.

With experts predicting excess rainfall in Kerala this year as well, the state government has now roped in private agencies to improve weather forecasting and climate change alerts in the state, indicating that the IMD’s inputs are not enough.

On June 19, a government order authorised the release of Rs 95 lakh to three private weather agencies – Skymet Weather, IBM Weather Company and Earth Networks for “ensemble predictions to improve extreme weather alert services in the state”.

The move is a first for Kerala, as it has so far relied only on the IMD’s weather inputs. The new system will now allow the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority to rely on multiple weather inputs for disaster response in the state.

The idea is to ensure “maximum visualisation of the meteorological situation” helping the State Disaster Management Authority collate and rely on multiple inputs from various weather prediction agencies and even use some of their models to predict outcomes.