Monsoon has covered the country, fastest pace since 2013: IMD

This year, it set in on the appointed date of June 1.

A boy enjoying the monsoon rain amidst the lockdown, in New Delhi on Thursday.

The southwest monsoon has galloped to cover the entire country at a pace not seen since 2013, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). 

The normal date for the monsoon to span the whole country is July 8. This year, the monsoon set in early on its appointed date of June 1 and was only briefly stalled due to the impact of cyclone Nisarga that struck Maharashtra on June 2.

“The early advance over Central & Northwest India was facilitated by formation of a low pressure area over Bay of Bengal which moved west-northwestwards, and another cyclonic circulation over central India,” the IMD said in a statement. “Considering southwest monsoon onset and advance over the country as a whole, there has been normal progress over south and east India, about a week delay in advance over northeast India and about 7-12 days early advance over Central and northwest India.”

However, the monsoon’s advent into northwest India has not translated into significant rainfall in the region. The IMD says that most of the rainfall will be towards India’s northeast, at least until June 29. Usually the monsoon trough see-saws, in that heavy rain in the north-east translates to little rain over the rest of the country and when rains wane over the Himalayan foothills and the east, it starts to pick up in the rest of the country. “Rains may revive over north India by June 28th, but they are unlikely to be very heavy,” tweeted Mahesh Palawat, Vice-President, Meteorology, Skymet Pvt. Ltd.

On June 1, the IMD said that monsoon rainfall over the country was most likely to be 2% more than the long period average of 88 cm. Region wise, the seasonal rainfall was likely to be 107% of LPA over North-West India, 103% of LPA over Central India, 102% of LPA over South Peninsula and 96% of LPA over North-East India. So far the monsoon rainfall in June has been excess with 21% more rain than what is normal for this time of the month. June accounts for about 17% of the monsoon rainfall with two-thirds of the season’s rain during July and August.