Monsoon Expected to Arrive in Delhi in 2-3 Days, IMD Predicts

Delhi is on the cusp of monsoon arrival, with the India Meteorological Department predicting its onset in the next 2-3 days.

NEW DELHI: Delhi, which sweated profusely under oppressive humid heat that felt like 53.5 degrees Celsius, may see the monsoon arrive in 2-3 days, the Met department finally said Tuesday. “The southwest monsoon has further advanced into some more parts of Madhya Pradesh, the remaining parts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar, some parts of Uttar Pradesh, most parts of Uttarakhand, and some parts of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh, today, June 30,” an IMD official said. "The northern limit of the monsoon passes through Surat, Indore, Sagar, Sidhi, Azamgarh, Ayodhya, Bareilly, Dehradun, Mandi," the official said. He added, "Conditions are favourable for further advance of the southwest monsoon into some more parts of the north Arabian Sea, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, entire Daman and Diu, remaining parts of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh, entire Jammu & Kashmir, most parts of Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi and Punjab, and some parts of Rajasthan in the next 2-3 days.”

The news came on a day when the city recorded the highest feels-like index, although the maximum of 40.5 degrees at Safdarjung was lower than Monday’s 42.2 degrees Celsius. Tuesday also saw no heatwave after two consecutive days of it. India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the feels-like temperature spiked to 53.4 degrees Celsius at 5.30 pm Tuesday when the real temperature was 37.6 degrees Celsius. At 41.5 degrees Celsius, 4.8 notches above normal, the Ridge was the hottest area of the city. This area saw heatwave conditions as the maximum temperature was above 40 degrees and more than 4.5 degrees above the normal. However, IMD did not declare a heatwave for Tuesday over at least two such monitoring stations.

A yellow alert has been given for rain and thunderstorms from Tuesday to Thursday. “A fresh western disturbance is likely to affect northwest India from July 2 onwards. A gradual fall in the maximum temperature by 5-6°C during next 7 days is expected ,” IMD said. A gradual drop in the minimum temperatures by 5-6°C in next 7 days is also expected. On Wednesday, the maximum temperature is likely to hover around 38-40 degrees Celsius. It is likely to drop more to 34-36 degrees Celsius on July 2.

As the month of June ended, Safdarjung recorded 41.8 mm of rainfall, against the normal of 74.1 mm. It was the lowest June rainfall in Safdarjung in four years. A lower rainfall than this in June was last recorded in 2022. It was 24.5 mm then. The mean maximum temperature for June was 39.1 degrees Celsius, a shade higher than June last year, when the month average was 37.5 degrees Celsius.