Nearly a week behind schedule, the southwest monsoon finally reached Delhi on Friday. It also advanced into Rajasthan, remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir and some parts of Punjab and Chandigarh.
An advisory issued by the India Meteorological Department stated that while light rains are likely over the next two days, a surge in monsoon rainfall is expected over Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana on July 8 and 9.
Delhi has witnessed a monsoon deficit in June. Between June 1 and July 3, according to the updated records of the IMD, the Capital has seen only 6 mm of rain as opposed to 68 mm it usually gets during the period, which is a shortfall of nearly 90%.
The advent of monsoon in Delhi was perfunctory with most stations barely registering any rain. As of Friday evening, the rain gauges at Lodhi Road station recorded 27 mm of rain, up from 1 mm the previous day.
The maximum temperatures hovered between 30 and 34 degrees Celsius and the minimum ranged between 23 and 26 degrees, with relative humidity floating between 80% and 100%.
The Capital, which has been reeling under heatwave-like condition for the past few days, posted its second-lowest rainfall in June since 2010. “In June 2010, 3.9 mm rainfall was recorded and this year in June 2019, the Safdarjung Observatory recorded just 11.6 mm of rain which is the second lowest rain in June in a decade,” said Skymet Weather, a private weather forecast company.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has directed heads of government departments responsible for desilting of drains to make all necessary arrangements to ensure that all waterlogging complaints are resolved within 30 minutes.
