The monsoon’s arrival in the national Capital has been delayed by its usual onset date of June 27 as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said Delhi is likely to receive the first monsoon showers on June 30 or July 1. The southwest monsoon usually arrives in the national capital on June 27. IMD’s Senior IMD Scientist R K Jenamani said there is a prediction of good rainfall in the city on June 30 and the arrival of the monsoon can be declared on Thursday or Friday.
Asked about the delay in the arrival of the monsoon in Delhi, the senior scientist said a gap of around five days is considered normal. "However, we did not see any major weather system developing in the Bay of Bengal (which could have pushed the monsoon forward). This year, it has mainly been a wind-driven monsoon," he said.
“ Conditions are favorable for the advance of the monsoon into Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh in the next 24 hours. Easterly winds, moisture incursion and convective activity have increased in this region”, he said. "We expect the conditions to remain favorable for the further advance of the monsoon in the remaining parts of UP, HP, J-K, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi in the subsequent 48 hours," Jenamani said.
Last year, the IMD had forecast that the monsoon would arrive in Delhi nearly two weeks before its usual date, June 27. However, it reached the capital only on July 13, making it the most delayed in 19 years. The monsoon had entered a "break" phase and there was virtually no progress from June 20 to July 8.
According to IMD data, the monsoon covered Delhi 29 times in June and 33 times in July in the last 62 years. The IMD had in 2020 revised the date of monsoon arrival in Delhi from June 29 to June 27.
Weather experts have said the monsoon is expected to yield good rainfall in Delhi in the first 10 days.
Delhi has received just 72.5 mm of rainfall since March 1 this year against the normal of 111.9 mm owing to the lack of strong western disturbances.
The city did not record any rainfall in March and saw a minuscule 0.3 mm of precipitation in April against the monthly average of 12.2 mm.
The scanty rainfall aggravated the heat, with the capital recording its second hottest April this year since 1951 with a monthly average maximum temperature of 40.2 degrees Celsius.
Prolonged heatwaves saw maximum temperatures soaring to 49 degrees Celsius in parts of Delhi in May. The IMD had declared the onset of the southwest monsoon over Kerala on May 29.
After its onset over Kerala, the progress of monsoon has been sluggish.
The northern limit of the southwest monsoon, which is the northernmost limit up to which it has advanced on a given day, passed through Ratlam, Shivpuri, Rewa, and Churk on Tuesday.
