New Delhi: The long-delayed monsoon has missed yet another date in Delhi and its adjoining areas and kept the national capital waiting. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has now said that heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places is expected over several parts of north India including Delhi by Monday morning.
Meanwhile, there was little relief from the unforgiving heat throughout the day as the southwest monsoon has still not reached Delhi, Punjab or Haryana. The IMD had said monsoon would hit parts of North India on July 10, but it failed to reach the capital and its neighbours till Sunday evening.
However, IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra has said the conditions are ripe for the advancement of the Southwest Monsoon over Delhi as humidity has also increased due to easterlies. He said the formation of a low-pressure area will also boost its advancement.
“We are expecting light rainfall on Sunday and a good spell on Monday,” he said.
The IMD said, “Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, the Gujarat region, Madhya Maharashtra, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, Telangana, coastal and south interior Karnataka, Kerala and Mahe and Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal.”
It has also issued alerts for several north Indian states and a red warning for coastal Maharashtra.
The bulletin also indicated that heavy rainfall is expected at isolated places over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad, west Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan, west Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, Odisha, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Saurashtra and Kutch, Marathwada, Rayalaseema, north interior Karnataka and Lakshadweep.
It said thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusty winds (with a speed of 30-40 kilometres per hour) are very likely at isolated places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Telangana.
Lightning at isolated places is also expected over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Vidarbha, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, central Maharashtra, Marathwada, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, Rayalaseema and Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal by Monday morning, the IMD added.