New Delhi, May 24, 2025.
The monsoon has arrived in Kerala today, eight days ahead of its usual onset date of June 1, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday. This year’s onset in Kerala is the earliest in the last 16 years.
According to the IMD, the monsoon has not just arrived in Kerala but also in parts of Karnataka, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Mizoram. It is progressing rapidly and is expected to reach parts of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, the remaining areas of Tamil Nadu, as well as parts of West Bengal and Sikkim within the next 2–3 days.
The normal date for the monsoon’s onset over Kerala is June 1. However, the earliest recorded arrival was on May 11 in the year 1918. On the other hand, the record for the late onset was in 1972, when monsoon rains began as late as June 18.
In the last 25 years, the most delayed arrival occurred in 2016, when the monsoon entered Kerala on June 9.
Over the last few years, the monsoon set in over the southern state on May 30 last year; June 8 in 2023; May 29 in 2022; June 3 in 2021; June 1 in 2020; June 8 in 2019; and May 29 in 2018, IMD data showed.
