(HT)
The Capital is likely to see an above normal monsoon this year, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Tuesday in its monsoon forecast for the country. It, however, did not specify when monsoon may touch Delhi this year.
According to IMD, the subdivision of Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana will see above normal monsoon — 114% of the long period average (LPA) from June to September. The normal monsoon mark for the Delhi-Chandigarh and Haryana sub division is 431mm, IMD DG Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said.
Delhi has already logged 186.4mm in May, making it the wettest May ever for the city.
IMD also has in place a yellow alert on Thursday and Friday, with forecasts of light rain, thunderstorm, lightning and gusty winds of up to 60km/hour. “There are also chances of light rain on Saturday,” said an IMD official. Normally, monsoon reaches Delhi on June 27. However, it is currently advancing faster than its normal date. It reached Kerala on May 24, a week before its normal date, and its onset was declared on May 26 over Mumbai, weeks ahead of its normal date of June 11.
On when monsoon is likely to touch Delhi this year, an IMD official said,“We are closely monitoring the progress.”
LPA for rainfall in June is 74.1mm. However, Delhi logged 243.4mm in June last year. LPA of rainfall is the rain recorded over a particular region for a given interval averaged over a long period.
Meanwhile, the maximum temperature rose to 37.4°C from 35.1°C a day earlier. It is expected to rise further on Wednesday and Thursday, before dipping following rain.
The air quality worsened slightly but remained ”moderate” with an AQI of 133
