Monsoon arrives 17 days early; rains lash entire country

Arriving 17 days ahead of the normal time, the monsoon has covered the entire country, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday. The monsoon reached Sriganganagar in west Rajasthan, ahead of the normal date July 15.

“The monsoon today covered the entire country,” Additional Director General Mritunjay Mohapatra said in a release.

The monsoon usually covers the entire country by July 1 and West Rajasthan gets rains later. But this year, due to good easterly winds, it has taken the rains to the entire country early, Mohapatra said.

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The monsoon season in India, which economy is largely based on agriculture, normally begins from June 1 and last till September 30.

This year, monsoon touched Kerala on May 29, three days ahead of its normal onset date of June 1. It battered the western coast in the first half of June. And, after a brief lull, monsoon reached Delhi, a day ahead of its schedule. With it, the monsoon deficiency, which until early this week was 10 per cent, fell to six per cent on Friday.

Temperature below normal in Punjab and Haryana

As rains lash several parts of the country with the early onset of monsoon, the maximum temperatures rremained below normal in Punjab and Haryana on Friday.

Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, recorded a maximum temperature of 35.6 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal, the MeT Department in Chandigarh said.

In Haryana, Ambala recorded a high of 35.7 degrees Celsius while Narnaul's maximum temperature dropped by eight notches against normal to settle at 32 degrees Celsius.

Bhiwani recorded a high of 33 degrees Celsius maximum temperature while Hisar recorded 32.7 degrees Celsius.

In Punjab, Ludhiana and Patiala recorded maximum temperatures of 34.2 degrees Celsius and 34.4 degrees Celsius, respectively. Amritsar registered maximum temperature at 30 degrees Celsius.