Kerala is set to witness isolated heavy showers as a yellow warning has been declared in nine districts in the state on Monday, July 6.
The southern districts of Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, followed by Thrissur and the northern districts of Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod are set to witness heavy showers. A yellow warning asks officials of the administration to keep a watch or be updated on the situation.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Thiruvananthapuram, all of the districts are set to witness isolated heavy showers. Isolation showers can be anywhere between 1-25 per cent or rainfall distribution while heavy rains can be anywhere between 64.5 and 115.5 mm.
On Sunday, July 5, six districts of Kerala had a yellow warning. These were Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod. The districts too were set to witness isolated heavy showers.
For July 7 or Tuesday, a yellow warning has been issued for three of the northern districts of Kannur, Kozhikode and Kasaragod.
Kerala is expected to receive heavy rains this monsoon. On June 19, the authorised funds were to be released to three private weather companies, to rope in their forecast services for better weather prediction. The companies - Skymet Weather, IBM Weather Company and Earth Networks - have been brought in for better prediction of calamities. This is the first time that the state has officially authorised private companies for weather forecasting.
Till now, the IMD has given weather-related information in the state. However, the state government wanted multiple inputs for better weather forecasting and hence decided to rope in private players.
According to government officials, the move was to get “maximum visualisation of the state’s meteorological situation.”
In 2018 and 2019, when the state received heavy showers, Kerala had relied on private weather agencies and their inputs, some of which were more accurate than that of IMD.