The southwest monsoon finally arrived over Konkan and adjoining southern parts of Maharashtra on Thursday. Heavy rainfall was reported in the region since morning while widespread rains were experienced in Ratnagiri, Kolhapur and nearby areas in Konkan and Goa. Pune and Mumbai are expected to receive moderate rainfall from the evening of June 22, with the intensity of rainfall increasing in the coming days. There are chances of heavy spells of rain at isolated locations near these cities, said officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The latest progress made by monsoon — covering Ratnagiri, Kolhapur, Shivamoga, Cuddalore along the west coast and over Kolkata and Gangtok on the east coast on Thursday — comes nearly a week after it remained stagnant over south-interior Karnataka. The progress was mainly stalled due to uneven rainfall distribution experienced over Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and some parts of Karnataka earlier this week. IMD officials have said the monsoon is likely to remain active over Maharashtra till the end of the month, as it covers the remaining areas of the state by June 24. “There are strong westerly currents supporting the onset of monsoon that set over Maharashtra on June 20. Both the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal branches of the monsoon are gaining strength,”said Anupam Kashyapi, head of the weather department, IMD, Pune. The presence of an off-shore trough, running between Konkan and Kerala, along with a monsoon low over the Bay of Bengal, will help in its further advancement to the remaining regions of Maharashtra. According to IMD officials, Konkan will experience fairly widespread rainfall over the next five days while Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada will get light to moderate rains initially. “Rainfall intensity is expected to pick up by June 23 and continue till the end of the month. Between June 21 and June 24, low to moderate intensity rainfall would be experienced in eastern parts of Vidarbha. This sub-division will get good rains after June 25, mainly caused by a secondary monsoon pulse expected around the last week,” added Kashyapi.
