Monsoon reaches Jaisalmer, Delhi's periphery but gives national capital a miss

Southwest Monsoon rains reached the desert district of Jaisalmer and Ganganagar, its last outposts, on Monday, but gave Delhi and parts of Haryana a miss.

It rained in the periphery of Delhi -- Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh and Karnal in Haryana -- but clouds hovered over the national capital, without giving any relief from the heat. The rains also covered west Rajasthan, Punjab and other parts of Haryana.

The Northern Limit of Southwest Monsoon (NLM) currently passes through Jaisalmer, Nagaur, Bharatpur, Aligarh, Karnal and Ganganagar, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The Southwest Monsoon covers Ganganagar and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan after it has covered almost the entire country.

"In association with continued prevalence of moist easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal in the lower levels since the past three days, enhanced cloud cover and scattered to fairly widespread rainfall during past 24 hours, the southwest monsoon has further advanced and covered most parts of Rajasthan and Punjab and some more parts of Haryana and west Uttar Pradesh on July 12," the MeT office said.

IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said the Southwest Monsoon clouds are hovering over the national capital since Saturday, even the wind pattern has changed and easterlies have brought moist winds.

"But it has not rained so far. This is a very peculiar situation," he said.

Mohapatra said the arrival of monsoon over Delhi will be declared as soon as it rains since the other conditions have been fulfilled.

The IMD had earlier said monsoon would hit Delhi on June 15, but then revised its forecast. On July 5, it said the conditions are favourable for the Southwest Monsoon to arrive over Delhi by July 10. However, it has not rained since July 10.

The IMD said it is continuously monitoring the further progress of monsoon into the remaining parts of the country.