Early monsoon in Delhi; likely to arrive by June 24: IMD

NEW DELHI: The city will likely welcome the southwest monsoon by June 24. According to the India Meteorological Department's forecast, given the pace at which the monsoon is advancing, it is likely to arrive three days before the normal onset of the rainy season in the capital.

Happily, the forecast is for a normal monsoon this season. IMD has predicted that while the country is expected to receive above-normal rainfall, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and UP will, as a meteorological region, receive normal rainfall in the range of 92-108% of the long-period average.

"Conditions are favourable for further advance of the southwest monsoon over the remaining parts of the north Arabian Sea, some more parts of Rajasthan, remaining parts of West Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and some parts of Jammu & Kashmir-Gilgit-Baltistan-Muzaffarabad, and some more parts of Ladakh during the next two days," said IMD's Friday bulletin. "Conditions are also becoming favourable for further advance of the southwest monsoon over the remaining parts of J&K, Ladakh; some parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi in the subsequent two days."

Last year, the monsoon arrived in Delhi on June 25 with the highest single-day precipitation since 1936 of 228.1mm. The season, however, ended with a 19% deficiency. Rainfall up to 19% excess or deficient is considered normal. The city logged 516.9mm of rainfall, around half of monsoon 2023.

Friday was a humid day with grey skies. Some areas of the city saw light rain, with the Ridge recording 6.2mm and Pusa logging 0.5mm. The maximum temperature at Safdarjung was 34.8 degrees Celsius, four degrees below normal and lower than Thursday's 36.4 degrees. The humidity, which was between 65% and 87%, however, kept the discomfort level high. The heat index, or 'feel like' temperature, therefore, was 46.1 degrees Celsius

IMD has issued a yellow alert and predicts rain from Friday to Monday. The forecast is for generally cloudy sky and very light to light rain/thunderstorm/lighting accompanied by gusty winds with speed of 30-40kmph temporarily reaching 50kmph during thunderstorms.

The maximum and minimum temperatures in the city are likely to be 35-37°C and 26-28°C, respectively, on Saturday. The minimum temperature will be near normal, and the maximum temperature will be below normal by 1-3°C. IMD said the predominant surface wind would likely blow from the southeast direction with a wind speed of less than 15kmph during the morning hours. The wind speed will gradually decrease and slow down to 10-12 kmph from the southeast direction in the afternoon. The wind will pick up some speed and reach around 15kmph from the southeast direction by the evening and night, said the IMD forecast.

On Friday, the air was more or less breathable with the air quality index in the 'satisfactory' category. AQI read 75 against 89 the previous day.