Monsoon hits North-West India, rainfall activity to intensify this week: IMD

The southwest monsoon has hit North-West India on the day it was expected. It has advanced into most parts of Uttarakhand, many parts of Himachal Pradesh and some parts of Ladakh, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) announced on Friday.

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Conditions are also becoming favourable for further advance of the monsoon over remaining parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and some parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi during the next two days.

The northern limit of the monsoon now passes through Barmer, Jaipur, Agra, Rampur, Dehradun, Shimla, Manali and Nyoma in Ladakh, according to a bulletin issued by the IMD on June 20. Rainfall activity is likely to increase over North-West India from June 22, the bulletin added.

At the beginning of the month, IMD had predicted the monsoon entered in Himachal Pradesh on June 27 and on June 25 in 2023. The earliest onset in Himachal Pradesh in recent times was on June 9, 2000, and most delayed onset on July 5, 2010, according to IMD data.

The IMD has predicted that isolated heavy rainfall is likely over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh during June 20-26 and over Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on June 21-22 and June 25-26.

Very heavy rainfall is expected over south Haryana on June 22 and over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand during June 22-26, besides light to moderate rainfall accompanied with thunderstorm, lightning and gusty winds at most places over North-West India from June 20-26.

Monsoon is expected to cover the states of Punjab and Haryana, which have been witnessing intermittent pre-monsoon showers over the last few days, between June 30 to July 5.

An upper air cyclonic circulation lies over North-East Rajasthan and its neighbourhood, which extends up to 5.8 km above the mean sea level. A trough runs from North-West Uttar Pradesh to the North Gujarat region across the above cyclonic circulation over North-East Rajasthan and its neighbourhood in lower tropospheric levels, while an East-West trough runs from North-West Rajasthan to Meghalaya over northeast Rajasthan and its neighbourhood. These weather systems will impact the monsoon activity.

Over the last 24 hours, some parts of Punjab and Haryana experienced light rains, dipping day temperatures. These were below normal by up to 6.5°C in a few places in Haryana and up to 3 degrees below normal at some places in Punjab. The IMD expects a fall in maximum temperatures by 3-4°C in both the states during the next four days.