MONSOON officially arrived in Yangon last week, marked by a resumption of rain following a period of light precipitation in the middle of last month.

“Monsoon started in southern Myanmar on May 13, swept into the delta region the following week and hit Yangon on May 29,” said U Tun Lwin, the director general of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology under the Ministry of Transport.

“It will go through the central region of the country and reach the north by the first week of June,” he told The Myanmar Times last week.

U Tun Lwin said a storm originating in the Bay of Bengal that hit Yangon on May 4 was mistaken by many people for the start of monsoon.

The storm dumped 344 millimetres (13.54 inches) of rain on the department’s head office in Kaba Aye Pagoda Road over a 24-hour period on May 4 and 5, the highest levels in 39 years. During the same period, 283mm (11.14 inches) fell at Mingalardon Airport, while 221mm (8.70 inches) of rain was measured in Hmawbi township.

On May 6, the storm brought 227mm (8.94 inches) of rain to Bago in Bago Division, the highest amount in 42 years. The previous record there was 172mm (6.77 inches).

“When the storm ended, the rain stopped. But now that monsoon has arrived the rain will become steady,” U Tun Lwin said.

According to figures from the department, the total rainfall in Yangon for May was 837mm (32.95 inches) compared with 341mm (13.42 inches) last year.
The average rainfall in Yangon in May is 308mm (12.12 inches).