Not even a drop: Monsoon continues to test patience in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Monsoon continues to elude Delhi. On Monday, Delhi saw overcast skies, but no rain. For the past three days, India Meteorological Department (IMD) has been waiting for rain to declare the onset of the monsoon over the capital. The department had recently forecast the monsoon to cover Delhi by July 10.
Met officials say the shifting of the monsoon trough southwards, with it currently passing through south Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, is one of the key reasons why rain has been eluding Delhi over the last 72 hours.
IMD on Monday said such types of failures by its models and predictions were ‘rare’. “It is needless to mention that IMD has predicted well with high accuracy about the advance of the monsoon over Delhi quite accurately in the recent past years and also the advancement of the monsoon over different parts of the country during the monsoon-2021 accurately, about four to five days ahead,” said the department in a statement.
“The situation is being monitored continuously and regular updates are being given on its progress into the remaining parts of northwest India.”
IMD said Delhi had largely been unlucky during this spell with easterly winds at lower levels establishing on July 8 and from July 9 onwards, easterly winds had established over plans of northwest India.
“These moisture-laden easterly winds led to an increase in cloudiness and relative humidity. It also led to revival of the monsoon over the region and occurrence of fairly widespread rainfall activity over east Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and scattered rainfall over Punjab and west Rajasthan. However, it did not cause significant rainfall activity over Delhi even though there was rainfall activity over neighbouring places around Delhi,” India Meteorological Department stated.
A Met official said conditions remained ‘favourable’ for rainfall to occur, but patchy rains were being seen in parts of Haryana and south of Delhi. “A decent spell of rain will mean the monsoon can be declared. The movement of the monsoon trough towards Madhya Pradesh has made it difficult for sufficient rain to occur in Delhi,” added the official.
IMD had on July 9 forecast ‘moderate’ showers to occur in the city between July 11 and 13. The normal date for the southwest monsoon to enter Delhi is June 27, meaning it has been delayed by over two weeks now.
Till 8.30 pm on Monday, no station in Delhi had recorded any rainfall, despite the weather department forecasting chances of light rain in parts of east Delhi, north Delhi and northwest Delhi during the day. Delhi’s maximum temperature on Monday stood at 37.7 degrees Celsius — two notches above normal for this time of the season. IMD forecasts light showers and overcast skies for Tuesday, with the maximum expected to dip to 33 degrees Celsius.