Exceptionally heavy rain battered the Western Ghats of Maharashtra for the second consecutive day, with several ghat regions recording over 500 mm of rainfall in 24 hours leading up to Tuesday morning.
Since Sunday, districts across Maharashtra, including Mumbai, Pune, Raigad, Palghar, Thane, and Nashik, have witnessed intense rainfall, with several locations reporting record-breaking rainfall.
Lonavala, the popular hill station located around 80 km from Pune, recorded 620 mm of rainfall Tuesday, taking its 48-hour rainfall total to 1,290 mm — the highest on record.
The previous extreme rain event in the region took place on August 2 and 3, 1953, when Lonavala received 882 mm of rainfall over 48 hours, with the highest 24-hour rainfall recorded at 493 mm. Another significant 48-hour rainfall event occurred between August 13 and 15, 1983, when Lonavala received 507 mm, according to the 2015 report titled PMP Atlas for West Flowing Rivers of Western Ghats, prepared jointly by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Central Water Commission.
In Raigad district, Bhira recorded 512 mm of rainfall Tuesday, taking its two-day total to 1,121 mm. Other locations in the region that witnessed extremely heavy rainfall included Davdi (688 mm), Tamhini (570 mm), Dongerwadi (423 mm), Shirgaon (420 mm), Walwhan (392 mm), Khand and Mulshi (312 mm each), and Nilshi (307 mm).
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Although the normal date for the monsoon to cover the entire country is July 8, even with the latest advance on Tuesday, the monsoon onset stands delayed for Bikaner, Barmer, Jaipur and Kutch, where the normal onset to be realised was latest by July 5. The IMD has said that in its last phase of advance, the monsoon was likely to cover the entire country in the next 2 to 3 days. If realised, this year's monsoon advance over the country could be the most delayed since 2021 (July 12).
“The Southwest Monsoon has been vigorous over Konkan, Goa, and Central Maharashtra,” the IMD said.
The country had a 40% rainfall deficiency for the season at the end of June, but heavy rainfall in the last few days has brought this down to 17% now. At that time, about 80% of India’s geographical area had a rainfall deficiency. As on Tuesday, only about 34% of land area has a deficit. Ladakh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Odisha and Tamil Nadu have excess rainfall for the season until now.
Maharashtra, after all the heavy rainfall in the past three days, has moved into the normal category.
The current spell of intense rainfall was triggered by the depression that had formed earlier over central India and traversed through Odisha and Chhattisgarh. On Tuesday, it weakened into a well-marked low-pressure area and remained near east Madhya Pradesh.
The IMD said the system is likely to move slowly west-northwestwards across Madhya Pradesh and adjoining Southwest Uttar Pradesh, weakening further by Thursday.
Under its influence, light to moderate rainfall is expected over parts of Madhya Pradesh, Konkan, Goa, central Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha until Wednesday. The Met department has warned of extremely heavy rainfall (more than 200mm in 24 hours) over the sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim on Wednesday with an overall increase in the rainfall activity and heavy spells over north India during the next 3 days.
While parts of Central and Western India, including Mumbai and Pune, have been witnessing intense rainfall over the past 48 hours, the Southwest Monsoon is yet to reach several parts of extreme northwest India.
The monsoon advance remained stalled during July 2 – 6. On Tuesday, it covered Gujarat and advanced into some more parts of Rajasthan, Haryana and more areas of north Arabian Sea. The northern limit of the monsoon passed through Barmer, Jodhpur, Rajgarh and Bhatinda.
Since Sunday, districts across Maharashtra, including Mumbai, Pune, Raigad, Palghar, Thane, and Nashik, have witnessed intense rainfall, with several locations reporting record-breaking rainfall.(Express File Photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee) 
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