Monsoon delayed by a week in UP

LUCKNOW: As the unusual dust haze continued to blanket many parts of the state including the city for the second consecutive day on Thursday, Met department said that the arrival of monsoon in UP and in Lucknow has been delayed by 7-10 days.

Earlier expected in third week of June, now monsoon currents may arrive in June last. The weather system propelling monsoon currents into India has weakened and it will take at least a week for formation of a new system, said Met officials. Till then hot and humid conditions will continue.

The monsoon had arrived in India on June 29, two days ahead of normal date. It progressed smoothly for 10 days thereafter but lost steam as weather system pushing it inward to Indian peninsula fizzled out.

"Now we will have to wait for development of another system which can energize the dormant monsoon currents. It will take between 7-10 days for new system to develop," said state Met director JP Gupta.

The estimate earlier was that monsoon currents will reach UP by June 14-16 and in Lucknow by June 17-19. However, now monsoon is expected in UP by June 22-25 and in Lucknow by June 26-30.

Meanwhile, hot conditions continued in the city on Thursday. Maximum temperature was 39.2 degrees Celsius and minimum temperature was 27.8 degrees Celsius.

A thick layer of dust - giving appearance of overcast sky - kept hanging over the city and several parts of the state.

State Met director said that dust raising westerly and northwesterly winds coming from Rajasthan are dominating the atmosphere. These winds measuring 25-35 km per hour are bringing large amount of dusts from the desert region. Similar conditions will prevail till Saturday-Sunday.

Gupta also said that some parts of the east UP including Lucknow may also witness dust/thunderstorm due to excessive heat between Friday and Sunday.

On Friday, maximum and minimum temperatures in the city are expected to be around 40 and 28 degrees Celsius respectively.