New Delhi, June 27
The monsoon hit Delhi well on time today and also touched Chandigarh and parts of Haryana and Punjab as it advanced further westward and northward.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) also came out with a heartening forecast that the probability of the monsoon turning out to be normal this year was very high.

The long spell of blistering heat, followed by humid conditions, ended yesterday in Delhi, Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab with widespread pre-monsoon showers, which the IMD said were likely to continue for the next two days and the monsoon would set in within the next four or five days.

IMD Director Operations S. C. Bhan said after studying the features of the system developing in the region today, it was ascertained that the monsoon had arrived in Delhi and its neighbourhood.

The intensity of currents that arrived in the Capital yesterday continued today, qualifying it to be called monsoon, Dr Bhan said, adding that rains were termed pre-monsoon when the current comes for a while and goes. This current had sustained for a certain period, he added.

The IMD today also came out with causes for the initial delay and future prospects of the monsoon. It attributed the late start of the monsoon, about one week, and its slow progress to interference of high latitude circulation features with the monsoon flow, besides claiming a successful monsoon prediction for 2005 by applying a statistical model.

Additional Director-General of the IMD S. R. Kalsi said signs of cyclogenesis taking place in the north-west bay were likely to further strengthen the monsoon.

Meanwhile, the monsoon today covered Delhi, entire Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Utter Pradesh and most parts of east Rajasthan. The remaining parts of the country, including west Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and parts of Haryana and Punjab were likely to be covered shortly, Dr Bhan said.