Monsoon likely to hit Delhi in July first week; IMD forecasts delayed onset

As on Friday, the northern limit of monsoon passed through south Gujarat, central Madhya Pradesh, northern Chhattisgarh and western Bihar. The entire Indian region east of central Bihar has been covered by the monsoon. But the entire state of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are still waiting for the arrival of monsoon. Normally, the monsoon spreads over almost the entire landmass by the end of June. The only areas that receive monsoon in the first week of July are central and western parts of Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab.

As on Friday, Delhi remains 30 per cent short of its normal rainfall in June. The country as a whole has a deficit of 41 per cent as the southwest monsoon continues its slow advances over the western, east and central India regions three weeks since onset.  .

IMD has stated that the monsoon would advance into more parts of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh over the next three to four days.

Meanwhile, extremely heavy rainfall was recorded in the sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Bihar and Arunachal Pradesh during the past 24 hours, with some places receiving over 200 mm of rain. Heavy showers also lashed across Konkan and Assam, leaving some places flooded. More such intense spells are likely to continue till June 29, according to IMD.

Despite these isolated showers, the monsoon remains significantly deficient at the national level — it was 41 per cent below average as of June 25, and deficit by 47 per cent last week.

With less than a week remaining in June, there is a high probability that India’s rainfall will remain significantly deficient this month.