Monsoon updates: Northwest India may get rain, thunderstorms after June 27

The Southwestern Monsoon has covered almost entire south India and is now heading northwards. The monsoon would soon be over Central India as conditions are favourable for its advance is parts of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

"Conditions are becoming favourable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon over remaining parts of Assam, some more parts of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and some parts of south Gujarat region, Jharkhand, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh during next 2-3 days," IMD's latest weather update (June 23 - 7.30 pm) said.

"Conditions are also becoming favourable for pre-monsoon thunderstorm activity over parts of northwest India from 27 June onwards," it added.

The IMD bulletin said thunderstorm observed at isolated places over Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Assam and Meghalaya, Telangana and Tamilnadu & Puducherry from 1130 to 1730 hours IST of today (June 22).

Rainfall recorded in the country in the first three weeks of the southwest monsoon is 9% below normal as the weather system has lost steam after pounding Mumbai and Karnataka with torrential rain 10 days ago.

All parts of the country barring the south peninsula have recorded below normal rains since June 1, data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) shows.
The weather has been exceptionally dry in the past one week, when the country's rainfall was 39% below normal. In central India where the monsoon should have reached by now, the shortfall was more than 70%.

The southwest monsoon arrived in Kerala on May 29, three days ahead of schedule. It had advanced over eastern parts of the country on Tuesday last week before the hiatus. Weather officials said the break in monsoon's continuity, which would be 10-12 days, is a normal phenomenon.