Southwest monsoon covers entire country after delay of five days: IMD

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After advancing over Delhi-NCR, the southwest monsoon covered the entire country on Tuesday after a delay of five days, the India meteorological department (IMD) said. The southwest monsoon usually covers the entire country on July 8. The earlier normal date for the monsoon to cover the entire country was July 15. Last year, the IMD revised its onset date for several areas.

The monsoon covered its last outposts – the desert town of Jaisalmer and Ganganagar in Rajasthan – on Monday but evaded Delhi. It covered Barmer, another desert district in Rajasthan some two weeks before its normal onset date. On Tuesday, several parts of the NCR received rainfall following which the IMD declared monsoon’s arrival in Delhi.

“In association with the continued prevalence of moist easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal in the lower levels since past four days, enhanced cloud cover and scattered to fairly widespread rainfall, the Southwest Monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of the country including Delhi, remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan,” the IMD said.

It hit Kerala on June 3, two days after its normal date of June 1. It rapidly covered most parts of central, west, east, northeast, and south India by June 15. It also covered many parts of north India.

However, its advancement over parts of west Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and Punjab was halted due to unfavourable conditions like the westerlies, lack of any system that could push the monsoon winds further.

The IMD had predicted on June 13 that the monsoon would cover Delhi and nearby parts by June 15. On July 5, it said that the monsoon would reach Delhi by July 10. However, its forecast this time went haywire.

The IMD has attributed the faulty forecast to the failure of numerical models. Last year, the Southwest Monsoon hit Kerala on June 5, four days after its normal schedule, but it covered the entire country on June 26.