The southwest monsoon advanced deeper into Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday, detailing the rainy season’s steady march northwards.
Monsoon clouds will cloak more parts of these states, some areas in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Sikkim and the rest of the northeast “in the next two or three days”, the agency said in its forecast.
IMD added that the rains will advance into “some more parts of central Arabian Sea, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, the remaining parts of Tamil Nadu, southwest Bay of Bengal, some more parts of west-central and northwest Bay of Bengal”.
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The rain-bearing system has covered large tracts of southern India in good time, keeping up a steady pace despite arriving over mainland India only on June 4, three days after its usual onset date.
‘Monsoon showing good progress’
Private weather agencies confirmed IMD’s prediction.
“Monsoon is showing good progress for now. It will cover all of north-eastern India, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, parts of central India, east Bihar and parts of Jharkhand in the next two to three days. We can also expect the monsoon will reach south Gujarat by June 16-17. In the meantime, pre-monsoon activity will increase over west and northwest India in the next few days,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president, climate and meteorology at Skymet, a private forecaster.
{{/usCountry}}“Monsoon is showing good progress for now. It will cover all of north-eastern India, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, parts of central India, east Bihar and parts of Jharkhand in the next two to three days. We can also expect the monsoon will reach south Gujarat by June 16-17. In the meantime, pre-monsoon activity will increase over west and northwest India in the next few days,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president, climate and meteorology at Skymet, a private forecaster.
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IMD forecast that isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall (7-20cm) was very likely over Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, northeast India and sub-Himalayan West Bengal over the next week, with isolated instances of extremely heavy rainfall over Karnataka and Kerala on June 8 and 9.
A few parts of the country’s east coast, Maharashtra, Telangana and the northeast on Monday recorded maximum temperatures that were between 2°C and 4°C above normal. Parts of northwest Rajasthan, east Punjab and southeast Haryana were also warmer than normal, said IMD.
The agency warned that a western disturbance would likely affect the western Himalayan region from June 11 and bring scattered rainfall over Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttarakhand between June 8 and 14.
Officials also forecast isolated thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds (of speeds up to 50-60kmph) were likely in Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab and west Rajasthan between June 13 and 14.