The southwest monsoon continued to bring rainfall in Bengaluru and other parts of coastal, Malnad and interior Karnataka on Thursday. The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) issued red, orange and yellow warnings in many parts of the state for the next few days. The red warning indicating heavy to very heavy rainfall was issued for the coastal districts of Karnataka and parts of Malnad Karnataka for July 17. This included Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan and Kodagu districts. The orange alert was issued for many parts of the state for Thursday and Friday including coastal and northern parts of Karnataka like Belagavi, Dharwad and Haveri.
Temperatures are expected to be cooler in Bengaluru between 20 and 25 degree celsius and thunderstorms accompanied by light to moderate rains are predicted for the state capital. Widespread rainfall is forecast in the state at least till the end of this week, CS Patil, Director, India Meteorological Department (IMD), Bengaluru, told The Hindu.
The southwest monsoon hit Kerala on June 3, two days after its normal date of June 1. It rapidly covered most parts of central, west, east, northeast and south India by June 15. It also covered many parts of north India with Delhi reporting rains this week. But KSNDMC officials said that the rainfall between June 26 and July 2 across Karnataka was 58% less than normal.
Last year, the Southwest Monsoon hit Kerala on June 5, four days after its normal schedule, but it covered the entire country on June 26. According to the IMD, in 2002, the Southwest Monsoon covered the entire country on August 15 — a delay of a month, the longest since 1960 — followed by 1987, when it covered the entire country on July 27. The earlier normal date for the Southwest Monsoon to cover the entire country was July 15.