New Delhi: The southwest monsoon officially made its arrival in the national capital on Thursday, delivering a welcome respite from the scorching summer heat. According to data released by the India Meteorological Department, the monsoon hit Delhi five days later than its typical onset date of June 27. Interestingly, weather records indicate that the last time the monsoon reached the city exactly on July 2 was nearly a decade ago, during consecutive occurrences in 2016 and 2017.
The onset brought immediate rainfall across various parts of the city during the early morning hours on Thursday. The weather bureau’s Safdarjung base station, which provides the official reading for the capital, recorded 4.6 mm of rainfall, while the Tukmirpur weather station registered a significantly higher downpour of 20 mm. The widespread rain and cloudy skies successfully brought down the temperature, with the city recording a comfortable maximum temperature of 34.8 degrees Celsius. This stands in contrast to last year’s monsoon arrival, which was relatively on track, touching down on June 29.
Meteorological officials had previously predicted that conditions were becoming highly favourable for the monsoon to advance deeper into north and western India. The weather system successfully progressed over the last two days into additional parts of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, and the combined Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi region. Residents can look forward to sustained rainfall over the coming week as a new weather system takes shape.
The met department announced that a fresh low-pressure area is highly likely to form over the northwest Bay of Bengal around July 3. This atmospheric development is expected to pull more moisture into the subcontinent, keeping the monsoon in a highly active phase across the central and northern parts of the country for the next five to six days. Local authorities are keeping a close watch on potential waterlogging in low-lying areas of the capital as regular seasonal showers continue
