The Southwest Monsoon – crucial for the kharif crop – is likely to cover the entire country by July 6 as against the normal date of July 8, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday.
After an early start, the SW monsoon had been pushing late over south peninsular India and later also over central India in absence of favourable systems. As on date, the Northern Limit of Monsoon (NLM) continues to pass through Porbandar, Vadodara (both Gujarat), Shivpuri, Rewa (both Madhya Pradesh) and Churk (Uttar Pradesh), the IMD said.
The IMD normal says that the SW Monsoon normally covers the entire country by July 8. However, the Extended Range Forecast (ERF) released on Thursday evening said: “Southwest Monsoon is likely to cover the entire country during the week June 30 till July 6.” Asked about the exact date, a senior IMD meteorologist said that there is no date, and the ERF “is just a guidance product”.
Asked about the monsoon’s date with the national capital, he said: “At present, we are just monitoring various features and no such fixed date can be given.”
Meanwhile, the ERF mentioned that the country as a whole received excess rainfall during the meteorological forecast week that ended on Wednesday. The weekly cumulative All India Rainfall departure from its long period average (LPA) was 45 per cent with weekly cumulative over northwest India as 120 per cent, over east and northeast India 77 per cent and south peninsular India at 29 per cent. However, for central India, it was minus 2 per cent.