Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 5

The monsoon over the northern region of the country continues to play truant, with little rain being expected in Punjab, Haryana and parts of Himachal Pradesh over the next few days.

“Prevailing meteorological conditions, large scale atmospheric features and the forecast wind pattern by dynamical models suggest that no favourable conditions are likely to develop for further advance of southwest monsoon into remaining parts of Rajasthan, West Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Punjab during next 4-5 days,” a bulletin issued by IMD today morning said.

“Hence, subdued rainfall activity is very likely to continue to prevail over Northwest, Central and Western parts of Peninsular India during next 4-5 days. Isolated/scattered thunderstorm activity accompanied with lightning and rainfall is also likely over these regions during this period,” the bulletin added.

Starting with being significantly surplus in the region at the start of the season, the monsoon slipped into the red by the end of June. IMD data shows that from July 1 to July 4, rains have been deficient by 68 per cent in Punjab, 48 per cent in Haryana and 45 per cent in Himachal Pradesh.

The Northern Limit of Southwest Monsoon (NLM) continues to lie along the latitude 26 degrees north and the longitude 70 degrees east, passing through Barmer, Bhilwara, Dholpur, Aligarh, Meerut, Ambala and Amritsar. This is roughly the same as it was about 10 days ago.

Over the past 24 hours, thunderstorms were also observed, among other places across the country, at isolated places over Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Jammu and Kashmir, according to IMD.

The maximum temperature was above normal by 1.6 to 3 degrees Celsius at most places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, and at many places over Himachal Pradesh, On the other hand, the minimum temperature was below normal by 1.6 to 3 degrees Celsius at many places over Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi and at a few places over Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The weatherman has predicted that maximum temperatures over Northwest India may rise by 2-3 degrees Celsius during the next 2 days and no significant change is likely thereafter. Also, no heatwave conditions are likely over the region during the next 5 days.