'Monsoon showing signs of revival'

With monsoon showing signs of revival for the past one week and further advancement, the rain deficit has marginally decreased in central India, a region that has witnessed scanty rainfall since June, a private forecasting agency said on Monday.

"Rain deficit in Central India has come down from over 60 per cent last week to 57 per cent till July 13 due to some good showers observed in the last few days, though it is still the highest in the country as compared to other sub divisions.

"More rain in the next two days may further reduce the deficit but it may still fail to cover up the excessive deficit that June brought to the region," Skymet said.

Until now, central India has received 137.6 mm of rainfall as against normal precipitation of 303.3 mm.

Northwest India has recorded 73.1 mm of rainfall as against normal precipitation of 156.5 mm.

"Activity is shifting towards central India and some parts of northwest plains. Conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon into remaining parts of west Madhya Pradesh, many more parts of Gujarat, east Rajasthan and some more parts of west Rajasthan," the Indian Meteorological Department had yesterday said.

The agency has added that it is expected to be rainy for the next 48 hours due to a weather system (low pressure) which is seen extending from east Madhya Pradesh up to Odisha coast.

Rain in central India is also expected to increase further in the next 48 hours, becoming fairly widespread with some isolated heavy showers likely in Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh.

Good rain is also expected in the national capital which will also have high humidity. The IMD too has predicted heavy rainfall in the western coast, parts of southern peninsula and north east.

"Heavy to very heavy rainfall would occur at isolated places over Konkan and Goa, coastal Karnataka and Kerala, isolated places over west Madhya Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, sub?Himalayan West Bengal ,Sikkim, Odisha, South

Interior Karnataka, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana," the IMD has said.

The MET department has also added that temperature in Uttar Pradesh and central India is expected to fall by 2-3 per cent.