Delhi-NCR weather turned pleasant on Sunday morning as monsoon’s arrival brought overnight rainfall for the national capital and adjoining areas. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday declared the onset of the southwest monsoon over Mumbai and Delhi simultaneously after 62 years.
The last time both cities were hit by monsoon at the same time was on June 21, 1961. While the monsoon was delayed by 14 days in Mumbai and two days advance in Delhi. The normal date for monsoon onset (1961-2019) over Mumbai is June 11, and for Delhi, it is June 27. According to IMD, however, this has made it a highly unusual monsoon year where both cities recorded an onset simultaneously. "The Southwest Monsoon has advanced over Mumbai and Delhi today (June 25)," an IMD official said. This is the earliest arrival of the southwest monsoon in Delhi since 2020 and 2015, when it arrived on the same date – June 25. The last time it arrived earlier than this was in 2013 when it reached Delhi on June 16.
Residents of the NCR region, including Noida, Gurugram, Faridabad and Ghaziabad, woke up to a rainy Sunday with heavy rainfall with lightning and thunderstorm. Even as rain brought the much needed relief for Delhi and adjoining areas, reports of waterlogging and traffic jams in Delhi and NCR came in after the overnight downpour. According to IMD, Safdarjung weather station recorded 48.3mm of rainfall in a 24-hour period till 8:30am on Sunday – most of it being recorded in the early hours of the day. Among other stations, Lodhi road received 59.6mm of rainfall till 8:30 am, Ayanagar 54mm, Ridge 27.4mm and Palam 29.6mm. Till 8:30am on Sunday, Delhi recorded 71.4mm of rainfall so far this month. The long-period average (LPA) for Delhi for June is 74.1mm, which is likely to cross in the coming days. The IMD classifies it as ‘very light’ rainfall when it is between ‘trace’ and 2.4mm in a 24-hour period. ‘Light’ rainfall between 2.5mm and 15.5mm; ‘moderate’ between 15.6mm and 64.4mm and ‘heavy’ rainfall when over 64.4mm is recorded in a single day. The IMD termed monsoon activity over Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi as 'vigorous'. According to IMD, monsoon activity is considered 'vigorous' if recorded rainfall is more than four times the normal or it is fairly widespread or widespread. In Gurugram, areas that were affected included Civil Hospital at Sector 10; Southern Peripheral Road (SPR); Basai village; Subhash Chowk; Rajeev Chowk and Narsinghpur. Though water at Subhash Chowk receded later in the day, pumps were installed at Sector 10, Khandsa Chowk, Narsinghpur, and Rajeev Chowk.
The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) stated that a drain has also been constructed to channelise stormwater at Sector 66 on the SPR. Pumping machinery was also installed at Umang Bhardwaj Chowk, the GMDA spokesperson said.
The monsoon, which had a slow start, has now made swift progress, covering numerous regions, including some parts of Maharashtra, entire Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, northeast India, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, east Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, most parts of Himachal Pradesh, and some parts of Haryana.
Although the monsoon has covered a significant portion of north India, including Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and a large part of Jammu and Kashmir, on schedule or slightly ahead, it is currently running 10-12 days behind schedule for a considerable part of central India, where a significant number of farmers heavily rely on it. D S Pai, a senior scientist at the IMD, explained that Cyclone Biparjoy had impacted the monsoon's progress over southern India and the adjoining western and central parts of the country.
