Monsoon makes rapid progress, covers north Maharashtra by June 11

PUNE: Monsoon has made rapid progress over some parts of the country so far this season and could reach northwest India almost seven days before time, India Meteorological Department told TOI on Saturday.
Monsoon has advanced faster over the central parts of the country, entering parts of north Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh (MP) earlier than normal by about five to seven days.Normal date for monsoon advance over parts of MP is around June 20, but it reached the state around June 11. Monsoon covered northern parts of Maharashtra by June 9-10, while it normally covers only south Maharashtra by that time.

“It is likely to maintain this streak during the next few days, as it may reach eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh (UP) way ahead of time, by about seven days. It is also likely to enter some parts of northwest India earlier than usual. It normally enters Himachal Pradesh (HP) and Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) by June 25 but is likely to reach parts of northwest India in the next four-five days, almost a week in advance,” India Meteorological Department (IMD) director general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra told TOI.
Mohapatra said monsoon was quite active this time. “There is the favourable cross equatorial flow. In addition to that, the low-pressure area over northwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining coastal areas of West Bengal and north Odisha is helping to push monsoon forward at a faster pace. The low-pressure area is likely to become more marked and move west-northwest across Odisha, Jharkhand and north Chhattisgarh during the next two-three days,” said Mohapatra.
D S Pai, scientist and head, of climate research and services, IMD, told TOI the low-pressure system is expected to take the monsoon current further. “We expect an interaction between the trough in mid-tropospheric westerlies and the low-pressure system, causing monsoon to reach parts of northwest India, including parts of Delhi (barring parts of Rajasthan) in the next few days. The low pressure is moving along the monsoon trough at a fast pace. It is likely to pump in a lot of moisture, while its interaction with the trough in mid-tropospheric westerlies will cause monsoon to move further by causing good rainfall in parts of northwest India,” said Pai.
Pai said once the low-pressure system weakened and the trough moved away, monsoon might stall for a while till it got another push to cover the remaining parts of the country.