Thunderstorm, gusty winds likely today in parts of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, says IMD

As the early arrival of monsoon brought hope for the country’s pockets facing intense heat wave, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued warning on Monday for thunderstorm, gusty winds, and lightning at various places in the country, including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and interior Karnataka. [caption id=“attachment_4494339” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The warning bulletin said that thunderstorms accompanied by gusty storms and lightning are likely on Monday at isolated places in Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha, Konkan and Goa, central Maharashtra, Marathwada, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Rayalaseema (a region in Andhra Pradesh), interior Karnataka, and coastal Andhra Pradesh. Isolated places over Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Telangana, Rayalaseema, coastal Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala are likely to receive heavy rainfall on Monday. While IMD had predicted thunderstorms accompanied by gusty winds and lightning are very likely on Tuesday at isolated places over Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, heat wave conditions are very likely to occur at one or two pockets over west Rajasthan. Southwest monsoon, which brings seasonal rains to the Indian subcontinent, hit Kerala on 29 May , three days before its scheduled arrival.According to private weather forecasting agency Skymet Weather, the Southwest Monsoon is likely to cover the entire country by 10 June, five days before its official date. Rains are expected to hit most parts of the country, barring West Rajasthan and some pockets of Punjab and Haryana, by 25 June. IMD officials have already asserted that India is likely to receive a “better monsoon” than it did in 2017, with the entire country expected to see "normal rainfall" between 96 to 104 percent from June to September. In 2017, the country received 97 percent rainfall. July is likely to be more rainy with rainfall over the country as a whole expected to be around 101 percent while August is likely to see 94 percent rainfall. Many parts of Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Raigad and Ratnagiri received pre-monsoon showers on Saturday after dense cloud formation developed into a thunderstorm with lightning and continuous drizzling. The rains accompanied by gusty winds lashed Mumbai and surroundings on Saturday. Three people were killed in incidents of electrocution. With inputs from IANS