Several parts of Mumbai received heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours, with Vikhroli reporting the highest downpour. The IMD reported significant rainfall in various areas of the city.
Heavy rains caused severe waterlogging, traffic jams, and disruptions to local train services in Mumbai. Schools and colleges were closed due to a 'red alert' issued by the IMD.
Skymet expects a good monsoon over western and southern India.
India has roped in almost all the world's major weather forecasters in its effort to accurately forecast monsoon rains in the next four years.
Cyclonic storm Fengal has commenced making landfall close to Puducherry and it may approximately take 4 hours for it to cross the coast completely, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said. The process of the cyclone's landfall commenced at about 5.30 pm on November 30. The IMD said the forward sector of spiral bands associated with the cyclone has entered into the land and is likely to move west-southwestwards and cross north Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coasts between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram close to Puducherry as a cyclonic storm with a wind speed of 70-80 kmph gusting to 90 kmph during next 3 to 4 hours.
After making landfall near Puducherry on November 30, Cyclone Fengal weakened on Sunday, but torrential downpour under its influence paralysed the union territory, with the Army stepping in to evacuate stranded persons in inundated streets.
So far, over 30 people have died across Northeastern states due to heavy rainfalls, floods and landslides, according to media reports.
Temperatures in 17 locations breached 48 degrees Celsius on Monday, with the relentless heat affecting health and livelihoods across large parts of northwestern and central India.
A normal monsoon will augur well for the country's agriculture sector and boost crop yields. However, good rains - and surplus crops - could also depress prices, hurting farm income, unless adequate steps are taken.
"The season averaged maximum temperatures in Himachal Pradesh, West Rajasthan, Konkan, Goa, Coastal Karnataka, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh are likely to be higher than normal by 0.5-1.0 degree Celsius," the Met department has said in its forecast.
Cooler weather meant that demand for milk products and value-added items like buttermilk and ice-cream did not show the usual rise.
A minister said the country had 7% less rain than normal.
A 22-year-old person was killed and another one injured on Thursday after a tree fell on their hut in Mumbai as moderate to heavy rains lashed the city and its suburbs in the last 24 hours, officials said.
As per the India Meteorological Department many districts in Maharashtra recorded maximum temperatures of 40 degree Celsius or above in the last two days.
The government has asked the general public to call toll free numbers 1070 and 1077 during emergency situations .
The monsoon this year in India was likely to be 'below normal' at 95% of LPA: Skymet
Total area impacted across India pegged at 18.9 mn hectares.
Weather watchers said it can't be known till May whether El Nio will impact the monsoon or not.
States have been told to prepare in advance to counter any impact of an adverse southwest monsoon.
Subsequently, Nivar weakened into a cyclonic storm and further into a deep depression, centered about 50 km west-southwest of Tirupati at 1430 hrs, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said. According to IMD, it is to weaken into a depression during the next six hours.
A 13.2 MW small hydro project on the Rishiganga river was swept away in the glacier burst in Uttarakhand on Sunday, but there is no danger of floods in the downstream areas as the water level has been contained.
Skymet lowered its full season monsoon forecast to 'below normal' from 'normal', while the IMD is sticking to its earlier forecast that rains in June to September of 2018 would be 'normal' at 97 per cent of the LPA with a model error of +/-5 per cent.
While the IMD had forecast a 'normal' monsoon for the entire season, Skymet stated that rain this year would be 'below normal', report Sanjeeb Mukherjee and Sahil Makkar.
Positive cues from the global market front aided the rally.
After a brief lull, intermittent rains lashed Chennai and its suburbs on Sunday, while the weatherman predicted more showers in Tamil Nadu over the next 48 hours.
Once called India's garden city, this upper middle-class residential area in Bangalore has India's most toxic air, says Devanik Saha, IndiaSpend.com.
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