Monsoon arrives in Delhi 16 days behind schedule, brings heavy rainfall in several areas

New Delhi: The Southwest Monsoon finally reached the capital Tuesday, 16 days behind the usual date of onset, making it the most delayed in 19 years, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). In 2002, the monsoon had covered Delhi on 19 July. “The monsoon has arrived in Delhi,” senior IMD scientist K Jenamani confirmed after a spell of rains drenched parts of South Delhi Tuesday morning.

#WATCH Delhi witnesses heavy showers; visuals from Akbar Road pic.twitter.com/6JfL3aXgbP

— ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2021

Normally, the monsoon reaches Delhi by 27 June. It covers the entire country by 8 July. Last year, the wind system had reached Delhi on June 25 and covered the entire country by 29 June. The weather department had a tough time forecasting the advancement of monsoon over Delhi this year.

Southwest Monsoon has advanced into Delhi today, the 13th July, 2021. @rajeevan61 pic.twitter.com/Y24OlzE7f5

— India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) July 13, 2021

After several wayward forecasts, the IMD acknowledged Monday that “such type of failure by numerical models in the prediction of monsoon over the capital is rare and uncommon”. The IMD had earlier said monsoon would hit Delhi on 15 June, which would have been 12 days early, but the wind system entered a “break” phase. In early June, the Met Office said the conditions will become favourable for the monsoon to advance to Delhi and other parts of northwest India by 7 July. Later, it said Delhi will get its first monsoon rains around 10 July. The weather department revised the forecast yet again on Saturday, saying the monsoon may reach the capital in the next 24 hours. But the wind system kept the city waiting on Sunday and there was hardly any rainfall on Monday too. As monsoon played truant in the region, Central Delhi is now the most rain-deficient district in the country, receiving only 8.5 mm rainfall against the normal of 132 mm since 1 June, when the monsoon season starts. It has recorded a shortfall of 94 percent. Overall, Delhi has so far received 67 percent less rainfall than normal, putting it in the category of “large deficient” states. The IMD said it is continuously monitoring the further progress of monsoon into the remaining parts of the country.