Monsoon revival continues to remain slinging: IMD expects good rain in two weeks

New Delhi, July 12: The Indian Meteorological Department has said that the monsoon revival has been very slow. While it has started raining in central and peninsular India in the northern limit of the monsoon has continued to be in the same position since June 19.

On Sunday the northern limit of the monsoon continued to pass through Barmer, Bhilwara, Dholpur, Aligarh, Meerut, Ambala and Amritsar. This means that the monsoon is yet to cover the entire country.

The monsoon should have covered the entire country by July 8.

The IMD is however expecting good rain in the next two weeks which is likely to cover the rain deficit.

Overall in July the rain is expected to be below normal.

Wrong signals by models, difficulty in predicting the outcomes of the interactions between the easterly and westerly winds were some of the major reasons behind the India Meteorological Department's monsoon forecast for parts of north India going haywire, experts pointed out as any relief from the oppressive heat eludes the region.

The Southwest Monsoon has reached almost all parts of the country but has stayed away from parts of north India. It is yet to reach Delhi, Haryana, parts of west Uttar Pradesh and west Rajasthan. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted that monsoon is expected to cover these parts by June -- a little less than a month back, but its predictions are yet to come true.

In its forecast on June 13, the IMD had predicted that the Southwest Monsoon will reach Delhi by June 15. However, a day later it said conditions are not favourable for its further advancement in this region.

Then began a long 'break-spell' during which the Southwest Monsoon was weak over several parts of the country.

On July 1, the IMD said conditions could be favourable for further advancement of the monsoon by July 7. The moist easterly winds in the lower level from the Bay of Bengal are likely to establish gradually over parts of eastern India from July 8, it had said.

On July 5, the IMD again said the monsoon is likely to spread into northwest India covering Punjab and north Haryana by July 10. However, there were no signs of any relief even on July 10.

On forecasting the onset of Southwest Monsoon over Kerala, the IMD said it would hit the southern state by May 31. Till May 30, the IMD, in its daily bulletin, said the onset of the monsoon over Kerala was expected to be around May 31. However, by afternoon of that day, it revised it saying the onset is expected to be by June 3.