Kerala Monsoon

Kerala's fitness-improving, exhilarating environment is enjoyable round the year, however the monsoon season stands apart. During the four-month long rain, the nature unfurls all its facets. It is romantic, its gloomy, it is violent, it is broody.

Mother nature is active in its constructive and destructive roles alike. Seeds germinate, saplings take root and farmers commence their hectic annual schedule. It is the blossoming of life everywhere in the state. Even a fresh academic year begins with the onset of monsoon.

The fury of the nature brings floods to low areas and landslides to hilly regions. Overflowing rivers wreak havoc on both shores. Trees get uprooted in the blustery weather. Sea turns furious with surging waves lashing on the entire Kerala coast. Sometimes rain is escorted by powerful gust.

During the monsoon season, days are both wet and dry. Sometimes rain downpours, in other times it drizzles. In Kerala, every drenching downpour is followed by a bright burst of sunlight when the world glistens as if it has just emerged from nature's womb. Normally, the monsoon season begins on 1 June. It ushers into southern Kerala coast with the escort of thunder. Slowly it envelop the entire state bringing solace to soaked soil, and parched throats. Kerala is the first place in the country to get the first shower of southwest monsoon. It would be a rare moment witnessing the onset of monsoon. Dark bellowing clouds close in and thundering follow. In a jiffy, Heaven's fireworks begin.

Lightning leave the dark sky crack-ridden. Flashes blazes across the clouds, flicks out golden, forked tongues, freezing the scene like a steel etching. The light and sound show in the heavens fade away with the rain bucketing down. Studies show that thunder storm refreshes the vast canopy of trees, send nutrients down their roots, pumping vitality into the land.

It removes the lethargy-inducing static electricity from the air, creates the energy-enhancing ozone. A monsoon storm in Kerala further enriches an atmosphere already purified by its trees, cleared by its waterways and the sea washing its coast.

During the monsoon, Kerala receive over 2500 mm of rainfall. In November, the retreating northwest monsoon makes foray from the Bay of Bengal to give a dust down effect. Despite all ravages of the monsoon, a post-monsoon Kerala awakes refreshed.