Monsoon arrives in Delhi, rain likely next week

Delhi's monsoon onset this year comes after the city experienced two consecutive days of heatwave conditions late June before thunderstorms and light rainfall brought some relief.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) announced that monsoon has advanced across Delhi, along with most parts of Haryana and Punjab, remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh, and additional areas of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

By: Express News Service

3 min readNew DelhiJul 3, 2026 12:31 AM IST First published on: Jul 3, 2026 at 12:31 AM IST

Southwest Monsoon reached Delhi on Thursday, five days later than its normal onset date of June 27, bringing widespread rain and marking the end of a prolonged spell of heat across the Capital.

Delhi’s monsoon onset this year comes after the city experienced two consecutive days of heatwave conditions late June before thunderstorms and light rainfall brought some relief.

The arrival is slightly later than last year, when Southwest Monsoon reached Delhi on June 28, but much earlier than in years like 2021, when it arrived on July 13, and 2002, when the onset was delayed until July 19.

Over the last 25 years, monsoon has typically reached Delhi between the last week of June and the first week of July, with June 27 being the climatological normal onset date.

According to IMD records, the earliest onset since 2001 was June 15 in 2008, while the latest was July 19 in 2002.

For Delhi, the weather office forecast generally cloudy skies with fairly widespread to widespread rainfall during the coming week. Isolated heavy rainfall is likely on Thursday and again during July 5-8 under the influence of active monsoon conditions.

The current spell is being driven by multiple favourable weather systems, including a strengthening low-level Somali Jet (wind current) enhancing moisture transport from the Arabian Sea; a low-pressure area over the northwest Bay of Bengal that is expected to become more marked over the next two to three days; an offshore trough extending from south Gujarat to Karnataka and the seasonal monsoon trough remaining close to its normal position.

The arrival of monsoon also marks the end of a relatively hot pre-monsoon season, as per IMD data. Delhi experienced its warmest pre-monsoon nights in four years in 2026, with the average minimum temperature for March-June reaching 22.9°C. This is the highest seasonal average minimum temperature recorded since 2022 (23.3°C), and higher than the corresponding averages of 22.8°C in 2024, 22.5°C in 2025 and 20.9°C in 2023.

Delhi’s average maximum temperature between March and June stood at 37°C, above last year’s 36.6°C, while the average minimum temperature was 22.9°C, indicating persistently warm nights before the onset of monsoon.

According to the IMD, heatwave conditions have abated across the country from June 29. It said conditions remain favourable for the monsoon to advance further into the remaining parts of Northwest India over the coming days.

However, rainfall across the country remains below normal. As per IMD data, cumulative rainfall during the Southwest Monsoon season – from June 1 to July 1 – is 38% below the long-period average for the country as a whole. Central India has recorded a 45% deficit, followed by East and Northeast India (40%), Northwest India (30%) and South Peninsula (26%).