Monsoon likely to revive by July 8; spread all over country in next 2 days
After a brief lull, monsoon is likely to gain strength over peninsular region, west coast and east central India from July 8.
The southwest monsoon started off well in the first half of June but has not advanced since June 19, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday (July 5).
The north and western parts of India including Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and western UP will have to wait for a couple of days more as the weather conditions are not conducive yet for the monsoon to spread further.
West Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan and Delhi are likely to get monsoon rains around July 10. Besides, northwest and central India regions are also likely to get rains from July 10. Eastern parts of the country will get rains from moist easterly winds that will start blowing over the Bay of Bengal around July 8. It is likely to spread into northwest India covering Punjab and north Haryana by July 10, the IMD added.
A ‘Yellow alert’ has been issued for north and south Karnataka for July 7 and 8.
The IMD forecast for July is normal rainfall.
Delayed onset over north-west India
As the national capital waits eagerly for the rains to gain momentum, temperatures continue to rise with maximum temperature still above 40 degrees Celsius.
Monsoon usually hits Delhi by June 29, but this it is likely to come around July 10.
Also read: Did you know? Lightning kills more than 2,000 people in India every year
After a slight delay in reaching Kerala (June 3), the monsoon advanced rapidly, covering about 75% of the country in the next three weeks. By the middle of June, monsoon rains had hit the western Himalayas, about 10 days in advance. However, the advance since then has been poor to say the least. Primarily because of the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) in the Indian Ocean and also because of unseasonal western disturbances in the northern parts of the country.
However, the conditions have improved since then and look favourable for further progress all over the country by July 10.