Monsoon arrives in Delhi but only patchy rains likely

New Delhi, July 4: A day after the long awaited monsoon arrived in the national capital, weather experts on Monday poured water on the hopes of Delhiites forecasting only patchy rains with little possibility of sustained downpour.

"The Monsoon has arrived. Patchy rains are expected in Delhi on Monday. We don't see heavy rains coming any sooner yet, though it might rain well on Tuesday for some time," an official at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The Monsoon rains here have also been deficient, but improved from 11 percent deficiency on June 29, the day Monsoon normally arrives in Delhi, to six percent on Sunday, July 3 -- its officially declared date of arrival this year.

According to Mahesh Palawat of private weather forecaster Skymet, Delhi has not received typical Monsoon rainfall for the past five years.

"Normal Monsoon, in which it continues raining or drizzling for many hours, is because of the formation of Altostratus or Stratus clouds which are low and mid-sheet type. In Delhi, we are only getting Cumulonimbus clouds resulting in patchy rains for a short span of time," Palawat told IANS.

Experts say that climate change, disturbance in green cover, urbanisation around Delhi and NCR as well as change in the pattern of Monsoon at large are some of the reasons why Delhi no longer receives good rainfall.

The rains in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) on Sunday night were patchy and varied widely from one place to the other.

On Sunday night, the Delhi Ridge received overall maximum rainfall of 66.5 mm, Aya Nagar got 1.9 mm, Pusa one mm, Palam 7.8 mm, Safdarjung 45.2 mm, and Lodhi Road 56.8 mm. One millimetre (mm) of rainfall translates to one litre of water per square metre.

"Earlier the atmospheric pressure in Bay of Bengal moved north-west towards Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, eastern Bihar, and eastern Uttar Pradesh. Now it shows westerly movement. So central India received better rainfall," Palawat said.

While Delhi is expected to be rain-deficient, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha in Maharashtra will receive good rainfall over the next three days.

IANS