Wet Spell Across India As Rains Advance, 'Orange' Alert In Hills

Rains and storms continued to lash several parts of north, northwest and central India on Tuesday, as the southwest monsoon made further strides into the rest of the country, said India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials, with overnight showers also helping keep Delhi cooler than usual.

The national weather office said the southwest monsoon has now blanketed most of the country, with only the northern parts of Rajasthan, and small patches of Haryana and Punjab being the regions beyond the rainy season’s footprint.

The monsoon will have traversed all of the country over the next two days, IMD said in its bulletin.

“The southwest monsoon has further advanced into most parts of north Arabian Sea, the remaining parts of Gujarat and some more parts of Rajasthan,” it said.

“Conditions are favourable for the further advancement of the southwest monsoon into some more parts of Rajasthan and the remaining parts of Haryana and Punjab during the next two days,” said IMD.

Meanwhile, the weather office issued orange alerts for Uttarakhand, as well as parts of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

An orange warning implies that disaster management authorities should be prepared to avert any rain related disasters or flooding.

Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand all received sharp spells of rain on Tuesday, said data from the weather office.

In Delhi, showers early on Tuesday helped push the minimum temperature to 24.5°C, (four below normal) and the maximum to 34.8°C (two below normal), even as authorities worked to shore up infrastructure and prepare for more rains over the next few days.