Westerly winds clocking up to 43 km/hr in strength (orang to purple i colour) blasted into Thiruvananthapuram-Nagercoil cast and Sri Lanka ahead of likely onset of monsoon over Kerala tomorrow (Thursday).
| Photo Credit:
www.windy.com
Ahead of the onset of south-west monsoon over Kerala likely tomorrow (Thursday), neighbouring Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal may experience isolated to scattered light-to-moderate rainfall, accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds of 40-50 km/hr, bringing some relief from prevailing heat conditions.
Surface winds are gathering strength (up to 43 km/hr from Thiruvananthapuram to Nagercoil, strong in monsoon parlance) showing clear signs of monsoon progression this (Wednesday) morning. They are turning westerly along the Kerala coast and south-westerly from Udupi northward across coastal Karnataka, Goa and the Konkan-Mumbai belt on the eve of the anticipated onset of seasonal rains.
Khammam, hottest
Elsewhere yesterday (Tuesday), Khammam in Telangana, not far from Chennai, recorded the country’s highest maximum temperature at 43°C. Across Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal, maximum temperatures were appreciably above normal, up by 3°C. Satellite imagery this (Wednesday) morning showed largely cloud-free skies over the region, though conditions could change rapidly with the monsoon poised to set in next door.
By 10 am this morning, temperatures had already climbed to 34°C in Chennai, Vellore and Madurai. Cuddalore and Tiruchirappalli followed at 33°C, while Nagapattinam recorded 32°C. In contrast, most of Kerala remained in the high-20s under expanding monsoon cloud cover.
Western disturbance
Meanwhile, North-West India is emerging from the influence of a departing western disturbance, even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) indicated that an equally potent successor system is likely to enter the region later today. Bikaner in west Rajasthan topped morning temperature charts with 38°C at 10 am, while much of the rest of the desert state reported temperatures between 30°C and 35°C.
Thunderstorms seen
The departing disturbance had triggered widespread thunderstorms, dust storms, lightning and hail across Rajasthan and other parts of North-West India over the past several days. Its successor is expected to generate another round of storm activity. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) projects thunderstorms over Kota in south-east Rajasthan and Indore in Madhya Pradesh later today.
May reach Hyderabad
On Thursday, storm activity is likely to intensify further across these areas and extend to Shimla and New Delhi, though with lesser intensity. By Friday, thunderstorms are forecast over Jaipur and adjoining areas; Uttarakhand; Bareilly and Banda in Uttar Pradesh; Damoh and Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh; Jalgaon, Akola and Nagpur in Maharashtra; and even Hyderabad in Telangana. The activity is unlikely to spread much farther south as the monsoon should by then be established along the west coast.
Rain clouds
Satellite imagery this (Wednesday) morning showed rain-bearing clouds concentrated over northern Kerala and parts of coastal and interior Karnataka, including Mangaluru, Kundapura and Shivamogga. Cloud bands were also advancing towards Goa, Konkan and Mumbai coasts, while spreading inland across Sangli, Solapur and Nanded in Maharashtra. Further east, patches of cloud were visible over Raipur in Chhattisgarh and Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, largely associated with the departing western disturbance.
Published on June 3, 2026
