South-west monsoon on Friday inched forward bringing rains to Bihar but a rapid advance over north-west and parts of Uttar Pradesh could be expected only next week.
The annual seasonal rains ought to have reached Lucknow on Friday but in the absence of a strong monsoon pulse they have been lingering over central India for the past couple of days.
“There is a lag in monsoon and rains are expected to pick up momentum in the next two to three days,” D.Sivananda Pai, Director, National Climate Centre, Pune, told PTI.
He said as of June 18, the country as a whole has received 97 per cent of normal rainfall and parts of central and north-eastern India have been getting good showers.
Weather scientists said that forecast models suggested a fresh monsoon pulse early next week which could set the stage for rapid advance of the seasonal rains into the north-western parts of the country.
The weather office has forecast widespread rain or thundershowers over Konkan, Goa, coastal Karnataka, Gujarat Region, Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada regions till Monday.
However, satellite imagery showed presence of rain-bearing clouds in the Arabian Sea indicating that heavy rains in the region than on the mainland.
A prevailing western disturbance would bring scattered rain or thundershowers over Jammu and Kashmir till Saturday and would decrease thereafter.
Forecast until Tuesday said that fairly widespread rainfall activity is likely to occur along west coast and over the north-eastern States.
