The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that for the first time since June 21, 1961, the monsoon covered both Delhi and Mumbai simultaneously on Sunday. The weather office said that while it reached the national capital two days ahead of schedule, its entry into the financial capital was delayed by two weeks.
“This is the first time since June 21, 1961, that the monsoon hit Delhi and Mumbai at the same time,” said DS Pai, senior scientist at the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi’s primary weather station, recorded 48.3 mm of rain in the 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Sunday.
According to the IMD, Dhansa weather station recorded about 80 mm of rain, Jafarpur and Lodi Road about 60 mm, Ayanagar and Mungeshpur about 50 mm and SPS Mayur Vihar 40 mm. The weather office described the monsoon activity as ‘vigorous’ over Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi.
According to the IMD, monsoon activity is considered ‘vigorous’ if the rainfall recorded is more than four times the normal or it is widespread or fairly widespread. In Mumbai, the Colaba observatory, representative of the island city, recorded 86 mm of rainfall in a 24-hour period ending 8.30 am on Sunday, while the Santacruz weather station, representative of the suburbs, recorded 176.1 mm of rainfall in the same period. IMD.
“Southwest Monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of Maharashtra including Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan and parts of Haryana, remaining parts of Uttarakhand and most parts of Himachal Pradesh and some more parts of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh today (June 25),” the IMD said in a statement.
The Northern Limit of Monsoon has now passed through Veraval, Baroda, Udaipur, Narnaul, Ambala and Katra.
In the afternoon update, IMD said conditions are favorable for further advance of monsoon into some more parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and remaining parts of Jammu and Kashmir during next two days. Normally, the monsoon reaches Kerala by June 1, Mumbai by June 11 and the national capital by June 27. The trajectory followed by the monsoon this year is unusual.
While it covered a significant part of northern India on or slightly ahead of schedule, including Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and a large part of Jammu and Kashmir, it ran two weeks behind schedule for a large part of central India. where a large number of farmers are heavily dependent on it.
Pai said Cyclone Biperjoy has affected the progress of monsoon over southern India and adjoining western and central parts of the country. “Since the system absorbed most of the moisture, the progress of monsoon was slow over the west coast,” he added. However, the Bay of Bengal branch of the monsoon, responsible for bringing rains to Northeast and East India, remained strong between June 11 and June 23.
Pai attributed this to the low pressure system that formed over the Bay of Bengal in mid-June and the remnants of Cyclone Biperjoy, which aided the progress of the monsoon over eastern India.
Pai said the Arabian Sea branch of monsoon is now getting stronger due to the development of a low pressure system over the Bay of Bengal. He said that this represents a new momentum of monsoon and added that rapid progress is expected.
According to the IMD data, monsoon reached the national capital on June 30 last year, July 13, 2021, June 25 in 2020, July 5 in 2019 and June 28 in 2018. It knocked in Mumbai on June 9 and June 11, 2021, last year. , June 14 in 2020 and June 25 in 2019. This year, the monsoon reached Kerala on June 8, a week after its normal onset date of June 1. In comparison, it reached the southern state on May 29, June 3 last year. June 1 in 2021, June 1 in 2020, June 8 in 2019 and May 29 in 2018.
Research indicates that the delay of monsoon over Kerala does not delay its arrival in northwest India nor does it affect the total rainfall received over the country during the season. The IMD had earlier said that India is expected to receive normal rainfall during the southwest monsoon season despite the prevailing El Nino conditions.
El Nino, which is the warming of waters in the Pacific Ocean near South America, is usually associated with weakening of monsoon winds and dry weather in India.
However, the IMD’s prediction of a ‘normal’ monsoon does not mean that every part of the country will receive good rainfall during the season. This essentially means that the total rainfall will be within the normal range, although some places may receive excess rainfall and some places may receive deficient rainfall.
Normal to below-normal rainfall is expected over northwest India, while normal to 94-106 per cent of the long period average is expected over the east, northeast, central and south peninsular regions. According to the IMD, rainfall between 96 and 104 per cent of the 50-year average of 87 cm is considered ‘normal’.
Rainfall below 90 per cent is classified as ‘deficient’, between 90 and 95 per cent as ‘below normal’, between 105 and 110 per cent as ‘above normal’ and anything above 100 per cent Anything classified as ‘excessive’ rainfall.
Normal rainfall is crucial to India’s agricultural landscape, with 52 per cent of the total cultivable area dependent on it. Additionally, it plays an important role in replenishing reservoirs needed for drinking water and electricity generation throughout the country.
Rainfed agriculture accounts for about 40 percent of the country’s total food production, making it a significant contributor to India’s food security and economic stability.