Rain remains subdued for two weeks in most part of the State with the exception of north Kerala

After a turbulent June, the weather remained calm over most part of the State in the first week of July, except a few pockets in north Kerala, where isolated heavy rain continued.

The extended forecast issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) mentions continued dry spell in most parts of the State for the next week except for a few pockets in north Kerala, especially in Kasaragod and Kannur.

Though the sky will remain cloudy, rainfall will be minimal in most parts of the State with the absence of a fresh monsoon flow surge from the Arabian Sea. After July 10, there would be some intense rainfall activity in parts of the coastline of central Kerala and north Kerala with the strengthening of the westerlies.

A low-pressure area is likely to form over Gangetic West Bengal and neighbourhood during the next 24 hours as per the weather bulletin issued by the IMD on Saturday. Further, an off-shore trough now runs from the south Gujarat to the Karnataka coasts. The position of the off-shore trough is not favourable to accentuate the widespread rainfall activity in Kerala. Kerala has received 684.2 mm of rain as of Saturday against the long period average of 758.2 mm expected during this period, a shortfall of 10%.

Though the rainfall deviation of plus or minus 19% is generally considered within the “normal” range by the IMD, the shortfall is likely to increase further because of the poor rainfall, according to experts. The IMD issued a yellow alert warning of isolated heavy rain for Kannur and Kasaragod on Sunday.