Southwest Monsoon, after ushering in a little early, made a sluggish start with subdued activity in the initial phase and made a very slow advancement. Monsoon in India this year has been extremely weak in terms of both intensity and coverage, particularly in northwestern parts of India. The month of June was very gloomy for the entire country as the cumulative rain deficit mounted to 43% and Northwest made a major contribution to this deficiency.
Monsoon had advanced over Punjab and Haryana (the same as it covered Delhi) by the first week of July but remained feeble. Most parts went through a prolonged period of parched conditions.
After remaining arid for almost the entire Monsoon season, Delhi was lashed by heavy and widespread rain on Thursday, though varying in intensity. In a span of 24 hours from 8.30 am on Thursday, the Palam Observatory recorded 103.6 mm of rain, while Safdarjung observed 56.7 mm of rain.
This rain occurred due to the low pressure area in Madhya Pradesh shifting closer to Delhi/NCR and west Uttar Pradesh.
Weather in Punjab
Amritsar - With temperatures soaring in high-thirties and nil rainfall since the 5th of July, Amritsar kept yearning for rain. Its plea was finally heard and the city also received good showers of 59 mm on Thursday. But, this rain was purely localised as no other neighbouring areas received any rain. This spot rain cannot be attributed to any Monsoon system.
Patiala- This city also experienced a long dry spell since the 3rd of July and received just 5 mm of rain on Thursday.
Weather in Haryana
Hisar- Hisarreceived a meagre amount of 4 mm of rain after almost 15 days. Parts of Haryana including Hisar had been recording maximums way above normal average, beyond 40⁰C and experiencing severe heat wave conditions for more than 10 days, before this spell of rain. On 15th Hisar recorded 43⁰C as maximum but it has now come down to 36⁰C in last 24 hours.
Taking into consideration the marginal improvement in cumulative rain deficit in the last 4 days, the deficit is still high, exceeding 60%, in Northwest India and Gujarat. Even as of today, half way through July, these regions are still among the highest contributors of the rising national rain deficiency.
Reason behind parched situation
According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, the spell of rain is likely to end in next 24 hours and prospects do not seem very bright for rain in the near future in the above regions. This situation could be attributed to the Monsoon trough, Western Disturbance or any other weather system not showing up or reaching till the northwestern parts of India.
picture courtesy- students hangout
