The southwest monsoon strongly picked up pace over the past two days, covering almost all major parts of the country, including Delhi and Mumbai.
“As the monsoon has again become active, there is a possibility that it will cover the country by the first week of July, which is normal,” D Sivananda Pai, scientist at the India Meteorological Department (IMD), and a well-known authority on Indian monsoons, told Business Standard.
The rains reached Delhi and Mumbai on June 25, something, according to meteorologists, that has not happened since June 21, 1961.
The normal date for the onset of the monsoon in Mumbai is June 11 and for Delhi it is June 27 (according to the data sourced from 1961-2000).
The historical data that meteorologists have shared shows 1961 was an El Niño-neutral year.
“Till 0830 hours today (Sunday), the highest rainfall recorded was 18 cm in Mumbai and 5 cm in Delhi,” IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said at a press conference on Sunday.
