
The southwest monsoon is likely to arrive in Delhi only in the first week of July, marking its most delayed onset since 2022.
Even as the normal date for the monsoon onset over New Delhi is June 27, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has indicated that the southwest monsoon is likely to advance to Delhi, Chandigarh and adjoining regions between July 2 and July 8.
“Conditions will become favourable for further advance of the southwest monsoon into the remaining parts of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, along with some parts of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi and Rajasthan during the week July 2-8,” IMD stated in its weekly bulletin issued on June 24.
Presently, Delhi remains 30 per cent short of its normal seasonal rainfall, as the southwest monsoon continues its slow advances over the western, east and central India regions three weeks since onset.
On Saturday, the northern limit of monsoon continued to pass through Surat, Indore, Mandla, Daltonganj and Motihari.
IMD has stated that the monsoon would advance into more parts of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh over the next three to four days.
Meanwhile, extremely heavy rainfall was recorded in the sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Bihar and Arunachal Pradesh during the past 24 hours, with some places receiving over 200 mm of rain. Heavy showers also lashed across Konkan and Assam, leaving some places flooded. More such intense spells are likely to continue till June 29, according to IMD.
Despite these isolated showers, the monsoon remains significantly deficient at the national level — it was 41 per cent below average as of June 25, and deficit by 47 per cent last week.
With less than a week remaining in June, there is a high probability that India’s rainfall will remain significantly deficient this month.