The first week of south west monsoon began well for eastern and northeastern parts of India, with the country having received 36.4 mm of rain almost close to the average of 36.2 mm. However rain for the central and north western part continues to be a source of concern. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the monsoon may reach central India around June 25 and cover most of the country, except Northwest India, by the end of this month.
According to IMD experts, the intensity of rain also went down slightly by about 5 per cent below normal due to the impact of Cyclone Ashobaa. However, with the cyclone weakening into a depression monsoon is expected to gather momentum and advance. According to them, the monsoon is likely to pick up once again and advance over the remaining parts of the southern peninsula and parts of eastern India next week, predicted IMD officials. According to them, the system is now far from India moving towards the coast of Oman.
However, since the cyclone began moving away from the country, it has been sucking away all the monsoon moisture with it. However, had the cyclone rewound and hit Gujarat instead, the monsoon would have already begun advancing over the rest of the country, which however did not happen, pointed out the sources. However according to them, monsoon has begun gaining strength from Friday and will begin advancing northwards adding that the monsoon’s arrival over Maharashtra and other areas around by June 15. Normally these areas get covered by June 10.
According to official data of IMD, Central India is lagging behind the most in the country with a deficit of 31%. This part of the country has received 18.2 mm of rain so far against the normal rainfall of 26.5 mm. This is followed by the states of North West India including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, where rainfall was trailing by 13 % normal below normal during the first week of the season. Eastern and North eastern parts of the country on the contrary have received surplus of 24% with 115.4 mm as against the normal rains of 93.1 mm. South Peninsula on the other hand is low by 2% below normal with 43.0 mm of rain as against normal of 43.8 mm.