The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday announced the southwest monsoon covered the entire country on Sunday (June 29), significantly ahead of its normal schedule of July 8. However, in Delhi, its arrival was slightly delayed from the usual onset date of June 27. Last year, the monsoon reached the national Capital on June 28, while in 2022 it arrived earlier, on June 25.
“The Southwest Monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of Rajasthan, West Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and Entire Delhi today, the 29th June 2025. Thus, it has covered the entire country on 29th June, 2025, against the normal date of 08th July (9 days before the normal date of covering the entire India),” the IMD said in a statement on X.
A cloudburst in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district early Sunday left two construction workers dead and seven missing as monsoon covered the entire country almost a week earlier than usual, bringing rain in the national Capital and other northern States, triggering landslides in several hilly areas and sending rivers into spate. The IMD has issued a red alert for heavy rainfall on June 29 and 30 in various districts of Uttarakhand, including Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Dehradun, Tehri, Pauri, Haridwar and Nainital. Authorities have put the Chardham yatra on hold for a day for the safety of pilgrims.
The Shimla Meteorological Centre has also issued a red alert for very heavy downpour in 10 districts of Himachal Pradesh, where the death toll from rain-related incidents climbed to 20 since the onset of monsoon in the State on June 20. In Uttarakhand, a landslide triggered by a cloudburst destroyed the shelters of workers engaged in the construction of a hotel along the Yamunotri National Highway in Uttarkashi district, officials said. There were 29 labourers at the campsite when the landslide occurred washing away around 10 metres of the highway.
Twenty of them were evacuated to safety while nine went missing, the district emergency operation centre said.
The Chardham Yatra has been postponed for a day as a precautionary step and a decision on further travel will be taken after reviewing the weather conditions along the routes on Monday, Garhwal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey said.
In Himachal Pradesh, three more deaths were reported in rain-related incidents since Saturday. One person each drowned in Una and Bilaspur districts while a person died after falling from a height in the Shimla district, according to the State emergency operation centre. Services on the Shimla-Kalka rail line -- a UNESCO world heritage -- were suspended on Sunday after boulders and trees fell on the tracks following overnight rains in Solan district. A bridge in Solan’s Barotiwala industrial area was also washed away. A landslide near Koti on the Shimla-Kalka National Highway (NH-5), connecting Shimla and Chandigarh, damaged some stretches of the road, resulting in a two to three-km-long traffic jam for hours.
Bald River in the Baddi area of the district is swelling and there are reports of water up to four feet entering over 20 houses in Shivalik Nagar in Jhadmajri. The water level in Mandi’s Juni Khad and Beas River has increased and the local administration has appealed to people not to go to the river bank and stay alert. All five spillway gates of Pandoh Dam were opened on Sunday morning, resulting in an increase in water level in Beas River.
Meanwhile, the monsoon’s arrival has brought much-needed relief from the prolonged heatwave that gripped Delhi last week. Residents can expect light to moderate rainfall today and tomorrow, the weather department said.
In recent days, Delhi has witnessed a steady influx of moisture-laden southeasterly winds, which enhanced cloud cover and brought scattered to fairly widespread rainfall across the region. Though it gradually covered the remaining parts of the country in the days that followed, its arrival in Delhi and adjoining areas was delayed due to anti-cyclonic winds over the region that hindered the flow of monsoon currents.
The monsoon reached Delhi on June 28 last year, June 25 in 2023, June 30 in 2022, July 13 in 2021 and June 25 in 2020. The system covered the entire country by July 2 in 2024, 2023 and 2022; July 13 in 2021 and June 26 in 2020.
According to the IMD, there have been only a few instances since 1960 when the monsoon has advanced over both Delhi and the entire country on the same day. One such occurrence was on July 2, 1967. Most such instances have taken place in July - in 1968, 1987, 1990, 2003, and 2011. Only once before, in 2013, did the monsoon cover Delhi and the entire country simultaneously in the month of June - on the 16th.
Though it gradually covered the remaining parts of the country in the days that followed, its arrival in Delhi and adjoining areas was delayed due to anti-cyclonic winds over the region that hindered the flow of monsoon currents.
Earlier, IMD officials had attributed the delayed arrival over Delhi, despite persistent cloud cover, to an anticyclonic circulation that was temporarily obstructing the monsoon’s advance. They noted that the system would weaken soon, allowing the monsoon to progress.
In a statement, the IMD announced the monsoon on Sunday covered Delhi two days after the normal date of June 27 and advanced over the remaining parts of the country nine days before the usual date of July 8.
According to IMD data, this is the earliest the monsoon has covered the entire country since 2020, when it did so by June 26. “The monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of Rajasthan, west Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and entire Delhi today, June 29 2025,” the IMD said in a statement.
It said that heavy to very heavy rain is likely to continue in many parts of northwest, central, east and northeast India over the next seven days. Extremely heavy rain may occur in some areas of Jharkhand on June 29 and 30 and in Odisha on June 29, the weather department added.
The rain-bearing system usually makes its onset over Kerala by June 1 and covers the entire country by July 8. It starts retreating from northwest India around September 17 and withdraws completely by October 15. This year, the monsoon reached Kerala on May 24, its earliest onset over the Indian mainland since 2009, when it arrived on May 23.
Supported by strong low-pressure systems over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, the monsoon advanced rapidly over the next few days, covering areas up to central Maharashtra, including Mumbai and the entire northeast by May 29. However, this was followed by a prolonged stagnation of around 18 days, from May 29 to June 16.
In May, the IMD had forecast that India is likely to receive 106 per cent of the long-period average rainfall of 87 cm during the June-September monsoon season. Rainfall between 96 and 104 per cent of this 50-year average is considered ‘normal’.
Above-normal rainfall is expected in most parts of the country, except Ladakh, adjoining areas of Himachal Pradesh, the northeast and some parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.
Some isolated areas in Punjab, Haryana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu may record below-normal rainfall. The monsoon is crucial for India’s agriculture sector, which supports the livelihood of around 42 per cent of the population and contributes 18.2 per cent to the GDP. It also plays a key role in replenishing reservoirs essential for drinking water and power generation.