Monsoon arrives early in Madhya Pradesh, to reach Jharkhand and Bengal in next 48 hours

The Southwest monsoon on Thursday advanced to parts of Madhya Pradesh nearly seven days ahead of schedule, as well as in parts of Gujarat, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) reported.

On Wednesday, the monsoon arrived in Maharashtra, bringing its capital city to its knees. According to the IMD, Mumbai recorded 222.2 mm rain in a span of 12 hours — 44 per cent of the monthly average rainfall in June (505 mm).

Monsoon arrives early in Central India

This year, the monsoon has made an early onset, with most regions receiving rainfall much ahead of schedule. By Thursday, June 10 it had covered remaining parts of Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and some parts of south Gujarat region, as well as south Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and south Odisha.

As Bhopal and Gwalior received rainfall, P K Saha, senior meteorologist of IMD Bhopal, told news agency PTI, “The northern limit of monsoon passes through Betul and Mandla districts of Madhya Pradesh. With this, the monsoon reached parts of the state. Usually, the advent of monsoon takes place on June 17, however, this is for the first time in recent memory that it has hit the state seven days ahead.”

Gujarat, too, reported rain in parts of Valsad and Navsari on Wednesday evening, even though the monsoon was expected to arrive in the state on June 15.

Southern states like Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh as well as the Northeastern states of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh had been covered by June 9.

What is expected in the next 48 hours?

According to the IMD, in the next 48 hours, the monsoon is likely to advance to Jharkand and cover West Bengal entirely as well as some parts of Bihar and east Uttar Pradesh.

Conditions are also “favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon” into some parts of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and the remaining parts Chhattisgarh and Odisha.