Amidst surplus rain in north India during June, southwest monsoon hits some parts of Punjab
Vijay Mohan
Chandigarh, June 26
Amidst surplus rains in north India during June, the southwest monsoon has hit some parts of Punjab on Monday after having touched Delhi and some more parts of Haryana on Sunday. Many parts of north India experienced widespread moderate showers on Monday.
The southwest monsoon has further advanced into some more parts of Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, remaining parts of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, on June 26, with the northern limit of the monsoon now passing through the Porbandar, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Narnaul, Ferozepur axis, according to a statement issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The monsoon’s northern limit on Sunday was Veraval, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Udaipur, Narnaul, Ambala, Katra and conditions are favourable for its further advance into the remaining parts of Haryana and Punjab during the next two days, IMD said.
Rainfall over the northern western states in the summer month of June has been noticeably above normal. The agrarian states of Punjab and Haryana have recorded a surplus of 42 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively, while the hill state of Himachal Pradesh has a surplus of 29 per cent.
From June 1 till June 26, Punjab received 58.60 mm rain against the long period average of 41.20 mm for this period, according to data compiled by the IMD. Haryana received 59.40 mm against the normal of 42.10 mm, while Himachal Pradesh received 102.90 mm against the normal of 79.80 mm for the aforementioned period.
Rainfall over north-west India in the month of May had also been well above normal, with the surplus being 161 percent in Punjab as well as Haryana and 84 percent in Himachal Pradesh.
While there have been several incidents of cloudy weather and rainfall over many parts of north-west India in June, helping to keep the temperatures relatively low and reducing the demand for power, the current water level at crucial dams in the region also remains comfortable.
The combined storage level in major reservoirs in Himachal Pradesh is 25 per cent above the past 10-year average and two percent above the 10-year average in Punjab, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Central Water Commission.
The IMD has predicted light to moderate widespread rainfall with isolated thunderstorm and lightning over the western Himalayan region and over the plains of northwest India up to June 28.
Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is also very likely over parts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan as well as some other parts of north-west India over the next two days.
