Bhopal, Jun 20 (PTI) The southwest monsoon has set over Bhopal and covered about 80 per cent of Madhya Pradesh, the IMD said on Monday.

Also Read | Pune: Woman Who Claimed To Be Second Wife of Maharashtra Minister Dhananjay Munde Booked for Hurling Casteist Abuse.

Also Read | Tamil Nadu: Man Buys Car With 60,000 Rs 10 Coins in Dharmapuri.

The onset of rains came as a huge relief for residents of the state reeling under intense heat.

"The monsoon has set over Bhopal. Now it has covered about 80 per cent of the state," PK Saha, the senior-most meteorologist with the India Meteorological Department's Bhopal office told PTI on Monday night.

He said the monsoon has not yet set over the Chambal division and parts of Gwalior and Ujjain divisions in the northwest part of MP.

Saha said monsoon hit Bhopal on the regular date and its onset over the state capital was on June 20.

He said monsoon entered MP from the southern part and rainfall was witnessed in Burhanpur, Khandwa and Betul on June 16- a day before its normal schedule.

The senior meteorologist said that Bhopal received 302 mm of rainfall between 8.30 am to 5.30 pm on Monday. The state capital saw a maximum temperature of 34.7 degrees Celsius (one below normal) and a minimum temperature of 23.5 degrees Celsius (one below normal).

He said Raisen, Guna, Chhindwara, Chhatarpur, Narmadapuram, Damoh, Ratlam, Sagar, Gwalior, Ujjain, Khandwa, Seoni and Balaghat districts too received showers in the same period bringing respite to the people from the sultry heat.

Saha said that moderate to heavy rains are likely at the isolated places in 16 districts including Narmadapuram, Vidisha and Balaghat in the next 24 hours.

According to the IMD's evening warning, thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds are likely to sweep isolated places in the districts of eight divisions of Bhopal, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Chambal, Narmadapuram, Sagar, Rewa and Shahdol.

He said that the same harsh weather (thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds) is predicted for isolated places in five districts - Burhanpur, Khandwa, Khargone, Barwani and Dhar in the next 24 hours.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)