Monsoon Covers Half Of India In A Week, 6 Days Ahead Of Schedule: IMD

New Delhi: Monsoon has set in almost half of India six days ahead of schedule, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday.

According to IMD’s Kuldeep Shrivastava, the southwest monsoon has already advanced into parts of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. He added that monsoon is expected to reach Delhi earlier than expected as well.

“In the next 48 hours, monsoon will reach parts of east Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In the subsequent two days, the monsoon may cover west Uttar Pradesh and parts of Uttarakhand also. So the expectation is that it will reach Delhi earlier than expected,” said Shrivastava, who heads the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre.

Monsoon normally arrives in the Indian capital by June-end.

This year, southwest monsoon arrived in the subcontinent on June 3, in Kerala, two days behind schedule.

Between June 1 and 9, the country has recorded 21% excess rainfall, informed IMD.

Extremely heavy rain has been forecast in Odisha on June 11 and 12, as well as Chhattisgarh (June 11 and 13, east Madhya Pradesh (June 13) and Vidarbha (June 12 and 13).