Rain gods smile on Delhi a day in advance

The much-awaited monsoon arrived in Delhi on Thursday, a day ahead of the expected date, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The city enjoyed its first monsoon showers that sent the mercury down a few notches below the normal. The maximum temperature on Thursday was 35.2 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal, while the minimum was 24.2 degrees Celsius, which is four degrees below normal. The city got 20.4 mm rainfall.

There may be more rains on Friday with generally cloudy sky, the IMD said.

Meanwhile, it has predicted "isolated heavy rainfall" in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Haryana, and "isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall" in eastern Rajasthan.

"Heavy rainfall" means 64.5-115.5 mm of rain per day, while "very heavy" means 115.6-204.4 mm of rainfall in a day.

Southwest monsoon has further advanced to some more parts of Gujarat region, most parts of east Rajasthan, some parts of west Rajasthan, entire Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, and the remaining parts of western Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

The IMD said that conditions are favourable for further movement of southwest monsoon to remaining parts of north Arabian Sea, Gujarat, Rajasthan and thus "the entire country during next 2-3 days".

--IANS

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