Humidity has shot up to 83 per cent (in the mid-60s this time yesterday morning) but mercury at 28 deg Celsius is down a couple of notches in Thiruvananthapuram this morning.

The persistent humidity is thanks to the presence of a trough of low pressure over the Lakshadweep area, off Karnataka and Kerala coasts.

There has been a steady band of northwesterly winds helping soothe frayed tempers over land, but its orientation clearly rules out the anticipated onset of the monsoon anytime soon.

The northwesterlies also transport to the mainland some of the moisture they pick up from the sea, and this is what whips up humidity.

Mercury might shoot up a bit as the day wears on peaking to 32 deg Celsius and gets increasingly cloudy, with the weather forecast to get muggier in tandem.

India Met Department continued to suggest that conditions are getting right over the sea some distance from the Kerala coast for the monsoon winds to blow in from where they would hit the home stretch.

But it will take another three days for them to enter the designated area of southeast Arabian Sea where they would consolidate before they strike the last mile.

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