Monsoon set to arrive in Delhi by Tuesday
NEW DELHI: The south-west monsoon is set to arrive in Delhi and will cover most parts of north-west India by Tuesday, almost a fortnight ahead of schedule, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday.
The expected early arrival of the monsoon will cap what has largely been a cooler-than-usual summer this year in Delhi, a city known for its scorching summer heat. Scattered spells of rain brought on by two cyclonic storms, along with a series of western disturbances, through April to June have given Delhi residents a relatively easy summer this year.
IMD officials said monsoon is on course to cover most areas of north-west India by Tuesday. “Conditions are favourable for further advancement of southwest monsoon into most parts of Madhya Pradesh, remaining parts of east Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, more parts of west Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab during next 48 hours,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of IMD’S regional weather forecasting centre on Sunday. On Saturday, HT had reported that the monsoon was around two weeks ahead of schedule due to a low-pressure system building up over the Bay of Bengal and was set to advance over Delhi and most parts of north-west India by June 15.
The south-west monsoon generally arrives in Delhi by June 27-28.
Mahesh Palawat, vice-president of privately operated Skymet Weather Services, said that while the monsoon is expected to arrive by June 15, there may not be significant rainfall in the city at least in the initial days. “Rain activity may increase by June 15-16. However,
it may not be a typical onset of monsoon. We might see patchy rainfall instead of a continuous downpour,” said Palawat.
He added that the temperature had already dropped from 41-42 degrees Celsius zone experienced last week to 34-35 degrees Celsius in the past few days, as humidity has started rising, signalling the arrival of monsoon.
While the south-west monsoon arrived two days late in Kerala coast on June 3 this year, it picked up pace soon after and has, since then, been sweeping across the country several days ahead of schedule. Experts have said that it may cover the entire nation about a fortnight before its normal date of July 8.
Early on Sunday, the IMD had issued an alert for a thunderstorm with moderate to heavy intensity rain for Delhi-ncr. The weather alert, however, was later withdrawn, but sparse rainfall may occur in some regions of the city and its neighbouring areas on Monday.
“On Sunday, we saw that a patch of cloud was travelling towards Delhi, but it evaporated before reaching the city. On Monday, we might see light to moderate showers in patches. Rain activity might increase from June 16,” said Palawat. On Sunday, the maximum recorded temperature was 35.2 degrees Celsius, four degrees below what is considered normal for this time of the year, while the minimum temperature stood at 23.8 degrees Celsius, as per the Safdarjung weather station, considered to be the official marker of the city.
As per IMD’S weekly forecast, the maximum temperature is expected to hover around 34 degrees on Monday while the minimum might touch 24 degrees. As per the weekly forecast, a thunderstorm with rain is expected in the next few days.