Monsoon has reached N-E early: IMD

NEW DELHI: Monsoon has come four to five days early to the whole of northeast India, most parts of sub-himalayan West Bengal, and Sikkim, said India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials on Sunday.

New monsoon dates were issued by IMD last year based on onset data from 1961 to 2019, and withdrawal data from 1971 to 2019. Going by these, monsoon was expected to cover Sikkim and subhimalayan West Bengal around June 10.

“But it has advanced to Sikkim and parts of Maharashtra four to five days in advance. The monsoon flow is strong and southwesterly winds have picked up on a large scale,” said R K Jenamani, senior scientist, national weather forecasting centre.

Monsoon is likely to pick up further as a monsoon ‘low’ or a lowpressure area is likely to form over north Bay of Bengal on June 11. “Under the influence of that monsoon low, we are expecting monsoon to be vigorous and cover most of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal — all of east India by June 13. We are now getting very early indications that monsoon will reach western parts of the country earlier than expected too,” added Jenamani.

But it’s too early to say if monsoon will arrive in Delhi early, officials said. “For now, we can say that pre-monsoon rain and thunderstorms are likely to begin over Delhi and parts of UP around June 12 and 13 because of the low-pressure area that will develop over the Bay of Bengal. It’s difficult to say... if monsoon will arrive earlier than expected. Normal date is around June 29,” said Kuldeep Shrivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre.

This year, between June 1 and 6, India has got 44% excess rain, with Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Punjab, etc, recording ‘large excess’ rain — 60% above normal. On Saturday and Sunday, Puddukkottai in Tamil Nadu recorded 19 cm rainfall, Tripura and Gangtok 11 cm each, and Shirali in Karnataka and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh received 10 cm rainfall each.

The weatherman also predicted widespread rain in the northeastern states and adjoining parts of eastern India in the next four to five days. Isolated heavy rain is very likely over Arunachal Pradesh on June 6 and 8; over Assam, Meghalaya, sub-himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim on June 8 and 9; over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura on June 7; over Odisha on June 8 and 9; and over Gangetic West Bengal on June 10.