The wait for Monsoon air mass to enter Delhi/NCR seems to have dragged too long this year. Delhiites have been yearning for good rain since quite some time as all we've had is quick short spells of rain brought by rapid moving systems.
Monsoon is definitely lurking around in the national capital but the exact feature which could drive the Monsoon current to Delhi is missing. To know more on this aspect, click here.
According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, the Palam Observatory in Delhi received 2.4 mm of rain in last 24 hours while Safdarjung received only traces of rain. After receiving good showers on Monday, rain has reduced in Rajasthan as well with only Churu recording 15 mm of in last 24 hours. In Haryana, Hisar received 5.4 mm while Bhiwani only 2.4 mm.
The weather in Delhi will remain cloudy today as well, in view of the Western Disturbance moving across the hills of Jammu and Kashmir and a circulation near central Pakistan and adjoining Rajasthan. This system could bring light rain towards late night and early Thursday morning.
Consequently, the maximum temperature in Delhi, which had been settling four to five notches above normal till Saturday, witnessed a drop on Sunday evening to record 40⁰C at Safdarjung. As was predicted, the mercury came down further on Monday to 38.8⁰C and witnessed a marginal rise and settled at 39⁰C yesterday, due to cloudy skies.
Cloud cover and moist southwesterly winds coming from the Arabian Sea are not allowing the temperatures to rise much. Only few places in Delhi like Najafgarh (41.1⁰C), Ridge (41⁰C), Palam (41.2⁰C), Gurgaon (40.5⁰C) and Ayanagar (40.5⁰C) crossed the 40 degree mark. Rest of the places have been hovering around 38⁰C. However, the temperatures are still above normal as by this time of the year the Monsoon current generally reaches Delhi, bringing good rain followed by drop in temperatures.
Rain will remain subdued with no sustained activity in Delhi for the rest of this month. As of now short spells of rain leave a lot of recovery time both for day and night temperatures to rise above normal levels.
picture courtesy- Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
Indian soyoil futures rose due to higher palm oil prices in Malaysia, while soybean futures ended steady, weighed down by lack of demand for soymeal. Soybean may remain bearish in the short-term on the impact on output this year due to a delay in the monsoon in key producing states like Maharashtra and MP.
Russian prices for new crop wheat fell further last week awaiting the start of the harvest, which looks set to bring a bumper crop for the second year in a row, according to the analysts. Russia, one of the world's leading wheat exporters, is set to increase its wheat crop by about 2 percent to approximate 53 million tonnes this year.
Indian sugar futures rose nearly 2 percent after the government raised import duty on sugar, and also provided additional sops for exporters. The climb in import duty will make overseas purchases nearly unviable for refiners in the world's biggest consumer of sugar, hitting shipments from suppliers such as Brazil, Thailand and Pakistan.
United States maize crop ratings fell slightly in the past week after heavy rains caused some crop fields to flood and damaged young plants but conditions remain historically high. The United States Department of Agriculture rated 74 percent of the corn crop as good to excellent, which is above the five-year average of about 68 percent.
One of the hottest cities of India, Bikaner, once again witnessed balmy weather in the last 24 hours taking everyone by surprise. This time it wasn’t soaring temperatures but immense heavy rain that lashed the city in span of just 3 hours, dipping the minimums by 8 degrees.
It started to rain in the middle of the night on Tuesday and the power went off, as if the electricity board was waiting for an opportunity. 74 mm of abnormal heavy rain occurred in Bikaner city from 2:30 am to 5:30 am making the morning unusually nippy. The minimum recorded 20.6⁰C (eight degrees below normal), as opposed to 25.3⁰C on Monday.
Rain came as a huge relief to the people of Bikaner who had been suffering even at night due to soaring minimums, between 31⁰C and 33⁰C. The day temperature which had been recording around 44⁰C till last week, has already dropped by a couple of notches in the last two days due to continuous dust storms/thunderstorms in the region.
Bikaner has therefore often made it to our list of top ten hottest cities in India this summer as the maximums here consistently settled around 47⁰C, also recording 47.6⁰C on 6th June.
Bikaner has had only one instance of rain before this, on Sunday 22nd June, when 5 mm of rain was witnessed. Barring these two days entire June has been completely dry. This was again because there was no strong system which could have given rain to the city.
Till now, the total rainfall in Bikaner is about 79 mm which is the third highest monthly total rainfall in June in the last ten years. Prior to this Bikaner had observed 79.4 mm of rain in 2010 and 84.4 mm in 2008. However, 74 mm of rain (Tuesday) in a single day in the city is the highest ever recorded in last ten years. 58.2 mm of rain on 8th June 2010 is the second highest rainfall in a decade in a span of 24 hours.
“Though there have been earlier instances, it is rare for Bikaner to witness such heavy rain in a single day. Rain occurred due to a circulation persisting near Central Pakistan and adjoining northern Rajasthan. This cyclonic circulation is a semi-permanent feature which gets accentuated when a Western Disturbance is moving across, which is currently being experienced”, explains AVM (Retd) G.P Sharma.
According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, temperatures may continue to observe changes as rain is expected to continue in the state.
Skymet Meteorology Division in India continues with top five rainiest cities list as we couldn't gather up ten cities eligible to fit in the top ten list once again due to subdued Monsoon rain across the country. Several reasons could be cited for this weak performance of Monsoon, click here to read more.
In the last 24 hours, only Rajasthan, Northeast India and adjoining areas received good showers. Here’s a look at top five rainiest cities on Monday:
| Cities | State | Rainfall (in millimetres) |
| Mazbat | Assam | 80 |
| Bikaner | Rajasthan | 74 |
| Bagdogra | West Bengal | 40 |
| Tadong | Sikkim | 38 |
| Agartala | Tripura | 37 |
