As monsoon covers rest of India, Delhi still left waiting

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday predicted the monsoon would reach Delhi within days—the latest in a series of forecasts it has repeatedly revised in recent weeks as the national capital remains among the last holdouts awaiting seasonal rains that have blanketed the entire country except for a narrow sliver in the northwest.

- Jayashree Nandi and Jasjeev Gandhiok

NEW DELHI:

While "conditions are becoming favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon over remaining parts of the country during next 2-3 days," according to the IMD, the capital's isolation in this meteorological map stands in contrast to the rest of India, where the southwest monsoon has largely kept pace with or exceeded early predictions made at the beginning of June.

The region left uncovered this year—a narrow sliver from the westernmost parts of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to the western extreme of Rajasthan—represents the smallest area left out by the monsoon since 1961, when the earliest available progress maps began, according to analysis of historical data.

IMD had forecast the monsoon would reach Delhi by June 24, ahead of its normal arrival date of June 27. Since then, meteorologists have issued daily forecasts pushing back the onset, a pattern now attributed to specific upper-level atmospheric circulation patterns that continue to impede rainfall over the Delhi region while neighbouring areas receive abundant rain.