Rains tease lagging monsoon

Tuesday's mild showers brought Delhi residents some much-needed respite from the stifling heat, but these aren't the eagerly-awaited south-west monsoon rains yet, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said.

- Aheli Das

NEW DELHI: The monsoon, which is running slightly behind schedule, is now expected to reach the Capital in the next couple of days, the weather agency said.

The IMD also issued a yellow alert for Wednesday, forecasting rain, thunderstorms, and gusty winds across parts of the city.

For rain to officially be considered part of the southwest monsoon, it has to meet certain criteria, the IMD explained. This includes widespread and consistent rainfall over several parts of a region, along with changes in wind patterns and cloud cover. A few scattered showers don't count as monsoon rain unless they are part of a larger, sustained system.

The IMD said the monsoon had further advanced on Tuesday over the remaining parts of the north Arabian Sea, some more parts of west Uttar Pradesh, parts of Haryana, all of Chandigarh, and the remaining areas of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu. It also reached some more parts of Punjab.

As of 6.15pm Tuesday, the department said conditions remain favourable for further advance of the monsoon into parts of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and the rest of west Uttar Pradesh in the coming days.