Thiruvananthapuram, June 4
Kerala is getting heavy sporadic rains but the monsoon is still about 48 hours away, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday.

Thiruvananthapuram received heavy thundershowers accompanied by lightning on Wednesday night. Many other parts of Kerala also got heavy rains.

The sun shone brightly on Thursday morning.

IMD director K. Santhosh told IANS that though rains were lashing Kerala, it was not time to declare the onset of monsoon.

\"Rainfall activity over Kerala has increased. Wind flow over the southeast Arabian sea is also becoming favourable,\" he said.

\"The conditions continue to be favourable for the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala during the next 48 hours,\" he said.

Rains lash Kerala, monsoon still awaited