The Met Office in Thiruvananthapuram has issued a warning to fishermen going out to sea from and along the State’s coast during the next 24 hours.
The warning said that strong winds from a northwesterly direction with speeds reaching 45- to 55 km/hr may blow inland from this afternoon.
This is likely the first signals that the monsoon may be beginning to get active along the west coast following the weakening of erstwhile cyclone Nanauk over east-central Arabian Sea.
The winds to the north of Kerala are likely to be westerly-to-southwesterly given the presence of a remnant of the cyclone located into the high seas.
The Kerala coast also might get to witness westerly-to-southwesterly winds the flows deepen and the offshore trough becomes pronounced during the next couple of days.
The sea off Kerala’s Alappuzha, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram is already stormy and unusually tall waves have ravaged a large number of houses along the coast.
HIGH WINDS
Earlier in the day, Met officials in Gujarat alerted the ports about strong surface winds and issued a warning for fishermen venturing into the sea.
This has been done as a precautionary measure since remnant of cyclone Nanauk, now a low-pressure area, is lurking in the sea about 1,160 km off Mumbai and 680km off Veraval.
Strong surface winds of 20- to 25 km per hour are likely to prevail at the ports during the next 24 hours. The wind speed may reach up to 30 km per hour, the Met office said.
The Centre asked the ports to hoist signal No. 3 (indicating squally weather which covers rain or persistent strong gusty winds accompanied by rain).
It has also forecast light to moderate rain or thundershowers at isolated places in most districts in the State during the next 24 hours.