Cloudy sky and drizzle likely in Lucknow today

LUCKNOW: The southwest monsoon, which sprinted 1,600km in 48 hours to reach UP on Saturday and was expected to enter Lucknow in another 24 hours, slowed down on the city doorstep on Sunday, resulting in only pre-monsoon showers.
Weathermen now expect the monsoon current to flow into the city by Tuesday.
Parts of Lucknow witnessed a drizzle on Sunday morning that brought down the maximum temperature by 4.2 degrees Celsius. Partly cloudy skies with rain or thundershowers are likely on Monday and Tuesday, Met officials said.
Monsoon, which usually hits the state by June 15, was delayed by seven days this year.
The Met department does not expect an active flow till the end of the month. Light to moderate rainfall is expected in eastern and central parts of UP over the next couple of days.
"The humidity level will remain high and monsoon showers are expected in the next 48 hours. For two or three days, light to moderate rainfall is expected owing to south-easterly winds. We expect monsoon to remain subdued over the state until June-end," said state Met director JP Gupta.
He added that parts of east UP would receive light to moderate rainfall on Monday.
The maximum and minimum temperatures in Lucknow are expected to be around 35 and 27 degrees Celsius, respectively, on Monday.
The normal dates of monsoon arrival in UP and Lucknow are June 15 and June 18, but in the past 10 years, the rains reached on time only in 2011 and 2013. This year, the current arrived late in India on June 8 and its progress was sluggish until four days ago as Cyclone Vayu sapped it of energy.
In fact, the advancement of the southwest monsoon current, fuelled by winds from the Arabian Sea, is still slow.
A branch powered by the Bay of Bengal swept into five states - Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar - between June 20 and 22 to reach east Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, even before Mumbai where it normally arrives by June 10.