Monsoon likely to hit North India by July 5

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, June 30, 2014:  The Met department has delivered some relief. A western disturbance is likely to help advance the monsoon into North India in the first week of July, the Met department said on Saturday. More importantly, this might help narrow the cumulative rainfall deficit by a significant margin.

A fresh western disturbance is likely to affect north-west India in the beginning of July. "We are expecting mild interaction of monsoon and western disturbances and this will help in advancement of monsoon in northern Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu division," said Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Director B.P. Yadav.

Almost the entire country has seen a sub-par monsoon till now. The June rain deficit widened to 42 per cent as the monsoon was stuck in its tracks for 12 days. Barely 9 per cent of India has seen normal rainfall as the monsoon stopped advancing on June 15. But with fresh monsoon over the west coast and the cyclonic circulation over north Bay of Bengal, the cumulative deficit might be made up significantly, Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency, said on Saturday.

As for Delhi, which is reeling under severe heat conditions, relief could rain down in the first week of July, Skymet said. Monsoon will cover Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and west Uttar Pradesh by the first week of July and continuous rain is likely in the national capital and northwest plains, from around July 5, Skymet said.

The West coast is also likely to experience above normal rainfall activity from the beginning of July onwards, the IMD said. The monsoon rainfall for the country as a whole between June and September is likely to be below normal at 93 per cent of the longperiod average with a model error of plus/minus four per cent, Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh had said earlier this month. In April, the Met Department had predicted a below normal monsoon at 95 per cent. The less rainfall is being attributed to the El Nino condition.

The Capital saw sultry weather conditions on Saturday with the maximum temperature hitting 40 degree Celsius. The minimum temperature recorded was 29 degree Celsius, one degree above normal.

The humidity level oscillated between 71 and 45 per cent and no rain was reported during the day. The Met department has forecast partly cloudy sky and thundery developments in some parts of the city for Sunday.