JOIN USThe initial showers would be particularly welcomed by the state's power sector, which had to provide 4000 MV on Sunday and Monday leading to rotational load shedding. Residents have virtually no way of escaping the heat but to turn on their air conditions and air coolers for longer hours, which severely strains the power system.
As clouds gather around Raisina Hills unleashed the downpour, hundreds of Delhiites flocked to the India Gate and other open spaces in the city to enjoy the first rains of the monsoon season.
Ajit Tyagi, director general of the Indian Meteorological Department confirmed to Deccan Herald that the rains are a definite indications of the arrival of southwest monsoon in the capital. "Monsoon has covered 95 per cent of the country, except north and west Rajasthan and west Punjab," he said.
On Tuesday, monsoon has further advanced into parts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the whole of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, some more parts of east Rajasthan and areas of Punjab and Haryana.
Though the current spell is expected to continue for four to five days, further spells will be required if the rainfall were to extend for a few more weeks.
"The southwest monsoon may cover the whole of the country before the scheduled date of July 15," Tyagi said. "But monsoon often comes in spells and we need to see if the spells would come in succession."
On Tuesday, Punjab, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand. East Rajasthan and West Uttar Pradesh have experienced fairly widespread rainfall. Conditions, in the meantime, are favourable for further advancement of southwest monsoon into remaining parts of Punjab and Haryana and some more parts of Rajasthan in the next two days.
Between 5.30 pm on Monday and 8.30 am on Tuesday, Delhi recorded 6.88 mm rainfall, taking the total rainfall to 10 mm in the last three days.
Despite the arrival of monsoon in Kerala ahead of time on May 23, rainfall ceased for a fortnight after June 7. This impelled IMD to downgrade its earlier forecast of "near normal" rainfall (96 per cent of the long period average of 89 cm) to the "below normal" (93 per cent of the LPA) category.
The department's forecast for July sounded less than promising for the agriculturally sensitive regions of northwest India which includes the grain basket of Punjab and Haryana.