Monsoon on threshold, to hit mainland on May 30: Met

Kolkata, May 17: Met officials today declared that the long-awaited Monsoon has already arrived in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and would hit the mainland by May 30, two days before schedule.

Met official sources said May 30 has been set as the deadline for its mainland exploration starting from Kerala.

''The southwest monsoon has set over the Andaman and Nicobar islands and some parts of southeast Bay of Bengal. Heavy rains will occur over the Andaman Sea this week,'' said Director of Regional Meteorological Centre, Kolkata, G C Debnath.

Conditions are favourable for further advancement of southwest monsoon over more parts of southeast and southwest Bay of Bengal, remaining parts of Andaman Sea and parts of eastcentral Bay of Bengal during next 48 hours, Met sources said.

Meanwhile, a depression has formed over southeast Bay of Bengal and lay centred at 1130 hrs today near latitude 10.5 deg. N and 88.5 deg. E about 1400 km south of Kolkata.

However, for Sub-Himalayan West Bengal amd Sikkim, rain and thundershowers would occur at a few places over Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar districts of Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim. Rain or thundershower may also occur at isolated places over the rest districts of Sub-Himalayan West Bengal.

Rain or thundershower may occur at isolated places in the Gangetic West Bengal, Bihar and Tripura, sources said. However, Jharkhand and Orissa will have mainly dry weather, sources added.