Though monsoon made a timely arrival over Maharashtra on June 8, Pune city continues to wait for a good spell this season. (Express photo/File)
After making rapid progress during the fortnight since its onset over Kerala on May 29, the South-west monsoon is set to enter the season’s first break-phase, slowing down its swift advance to the remaining parts of the country till June 20.
The monsoon having covered over 40 per cent area of the country – south peninsula, north-east India and some parts of Maharashtra in the west – officials at India Meteorological Department (IMD) of Monday hinted at a possible weakening of the monsoon winds in the coming days.
“In the presence of an anticyclonic condition over central India region and absence of moisture-laden easterly winds blowing over from the Bay of Bengal onto central India, there would not be enough conditions available for the monsoon to make any further progress, at least for over a week from now,” AD Tathe, director, Regional Meteorological Centre, Nagpur, told The Indian Express.
On Monday, the all India rainfall status stood at 18 per cent higher than normal, for the season so far. Rainfall over Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and West Bengal remained in the excess category for the season till June 11.
Yet another cause for this ‘early break’ phase for the monsoon that made an onset before time this year, is the low pressure system that is currently prevailing near Bangladesh and its movement towards the east.
“As a result, this intensifying system is pulling all available moisture from over the Bay of Bengal towards itself, depriving the same over central India regions,” he said.
However, during the next 48 hours, monsoon will cover Odisha, West Bengal and remaining north-eastern states. On Monday, the Northern Limit of Monsoon (NLM) passed through Thane, Ahmednagar, Buldhana, Amravati, Puri, Kolkata, North Lakhimpur.
Wet spells continued on the day over Kerala, coastal Karnataka and Konkan areas in Maharashtra with Ratnagiri (162.5mm), Vengurla (125.8mm) and Sawantwadi (116mm) remaining some of the wettest areas. The Met department has warned of continuing rains over Konkan region till June 15.
“Squally winds at a speed of 35-45 km/hr are expected to blow along the west coast bringing heavy to very heavy rains over Konkan, Goa, coastal Karnataka and Kerala till June 13 while some isolated heavy rains would continue till middle of the month over these areas,” said another IMD official.
Though monsoon made a timely arrival over Maharashtra on June 8, Pune city continues to wait for a good spell this season. Pune recorded heavy pre-monsoon showers on June 1 and June 7, the latest when the city reported rains amounting to 19mm.