Monsoon may take longer to reach Delhi, normal rainfall likely: IMD

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The arrival of the monsoon in the national capital is likely to be delayed by two-three days, though the city is expected to receive normal rainfall, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday.

However, Skymet Weather, a private forecaster, said the monsoon may take at least a week longer to reach the city.

On Wednesday, the weather office said that the monsoon was likely to get delayed further and hit the Kerala coast only on June 8.

"Normally, the monsoon reaches Delhi by June 29. Since there's a delay in its onset in the southern peninsula, the wind system is likely to take two-three days longer to reach northwest India," IMD's regional weather forecasting chief Kuldeep Srivastava said.

"The good is news is the factors that aid the progress of the monsoon, including the southwesterly winds and the Somali jet stream, are gradually becoming active," he said.

Northwest India is likely to witness normal rainfall during the monsoon season, Srivastava said.

However, Mahesh Palawat, senior vice president and meteorologist at Skymet Weather, said, "It's difficult to say when will it reach Delhi exactly, but it's expected to get delayed by at least one week."

"After the onset of the monsoon, a low-pressure area is expected to develop over the Arabian Sea and it may intensify into a depression gradually. Whenever any such intense weather system develops over the Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea, the moisture-laden winds start converging around it, affecting the progress of the monsoon.

"So, the progress of the monsoon will be sluggish due to the formation of low-pressure area in the Arabian Sea," he added.

"The rainfall is expected to remain on the lower side of normal over Delhi. Since, it's a small area, one or two good spells of rains may make up for the deficit. But any surplus rain is ruled out," Palawat said.