Private forecaster Skymet has said that monsoon in Mumbai will not arrive at least until the third week of June, a week later than expected.
Monsoon typically arrives in the city by June 10. Last year, rain started on June 9. There is about a 10-day gap between the onset of monsoon in Kerala and Mumbai. This year, IMD has forecast that the arrival in Kerala will be delayed by a few days, possibly on June 6.
On May 30, Skymet posted an article on its website, stating that arrival of monsoon in Mumbai will happen only in the third week of June. “Pre-monsoon in Mumbai has been deficit and is likely to remain so. South-west monsoon will have a delayed onset in Kerala… Thus, Mumbai monsoon is only expected to make an onset in the third week of June and not before that,” the article said.
When asked about this, Shubhangi Bhute, a senior scientist of IMD Mumbai, said, “Generally, monsoon comes to Mumbai about 10 days after Kerala and by June 15, occupies the entire Maharashtra. This year, we will be able to comment only after the onset in Kerala.”
Meanwhile, the IMD’s long range forecast for Indian monsoon issued on Friday said rainfall over the country as a whole for the 2019 south-west monsoon is most likely to be normal (96% to 104% of long period average). Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region continues to be gripped by a heat wave. On Friday, Chandrapur recorded 46 degrees Celsius, Nagpur 46.5 degrees, and Wardha saw 46.7 degrees.
Mumbai recorded the maximum temperature of 34.5 degrees on Friday. The all-time record for the highest maximum temperature for May in Mumbai is of 41 degrees on May 12, 1979.
