Mumbai and its suburbs experienced widespread pre-monsoon showers, offering relief from the recent heat and humidity. Several areas received moderate to heavy rainfall, with no major disruptions reported.
The south-west monsoon is likely to hit the national capital in a day or two as pre-monsoon showers drenched the city on Tuesday, bringing respite to denizens who have been braving an intense heat wave for the past week. Various parts of the city received rains during the past 12 hours, which brought down the temperature to tolerable levels around 25 degree Celsius, the Meteorological office said. The city has received over 10 mm of rains in the past three days.
The meterological department has predicted that rain accompanied by thundersquall is likely to lash the metropolis and its suburbs during the next 24 hours.
Mumbai and certain adjoining areas experienced pre-monsoon showers, sources said on Sunday.
Researchers at IIT Bombay have discovered that heatwaves in the Indo-Gangetic Plains are primarily caused by local land and weather conditions, rather than hot air originating from elsewhere, emphasising the need for location-specific early warning systems.
'Monsoon is the pran (life) of our water system.' 'A weak monsoon will have a very negative impact on crops and people's lives.'
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said 52 deaths have been reported so far due to pre-monsoon rains in the state, along with damage to properties, and directed officials concerned to provide immediate relief.
A meteorological department official said these were pre-monsoon showers and added that partly cloudy skies with chances of rain/thundershowers were forecast for Mumbai in the next 24 hours.
As many as 12 flights were diverted at the Delhi airport between 3 pm and 4 pm due to adverse weather conditions, an official said.
Monsoon is likely to reach Maharashtra and Goa in the next two days, the India Meteorological Department said on Monday, with a private weather forecasting agency predicting sustained heavy rains later this week.
Flight operations at Mumbai airport were put on hold after heavy rain brought down visibility below the required limit.
Pre-monsoon rainfall, colloquial referred to as "mango showers", is vital to many parts of the country.
The IMD has forecast heavy rainfall in some parts of the state in next 48 hours. "The southwest monsoon has arrived in Maharashtra. The onset line is passing over Harnai, Solapur, Ramagundum (Telangana) and Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh)," IMD Mumbai centre's deputy director general K S Hosalikar said.
Thursday evening brought a pleasant surprise for sweating Mumbaikars, as pre-monsoon showers lashed the entire periphery of the megacity.
This comes a day after the Uttar Pradesh government suspended six officials of civic agencies for alleged gross negligence following the road cave-ins and waterlogging at several sections of the newly-built Ram Path.
The actresses took to the ramp to model clothes by Shaina NC and Manish Malhotra.
At around 3 pm on Wednesday, India's daily peak power demand touched 220 gigawatts (Gw)-the highest daily peak ever in the history of the country. The ministry of power in its estimates had projected country's power demand to cross touch 220 Gw during the months of April-June. With a cooler April due to unseasonal rains, the peak shifted to May.
Pranab Mukherjee's initials are PM. But everyone in the finance ministry is convinced he's the one moving to Rashtrapati Bhavan in the next few weeks.
The Indian economy is in a strong footing. The only areas of apprehension are the impact of crude prices on the fiscal situation and on the interest rates.
Many parts of the country have received good rainfall and others, including the capital where the monsoon has not moved in so far, woke up to pre-monsoon showers on Wednesday.
But the IMD said the heat wave will continue till then in parts of the country.
Disaster management authorities have warned about very heavy rainfall over the next 24 hours.
Heavy pre-monsoon showers in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district led to flooding of the ground floor of the COVID-19 hospital, forcing its staff to shift patients to upper floors in midnight.
Farmers in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana anticipate a sharp decline in vegetable output this year, due to sustained declines in the water table after consecutive years of below-average rain. Prices of vegetables are expected to stay high for the next four to six weeks.
With the cooling down of heatwaves as the monsoon spreads across the country, power demand has fallen by 12.5 per cent from the start of this month till Monday. Peak power demand of the country had touched a record of 210 Gw last week, mostly due to rising temperatures and opening up of the economy. Compared with the beginning of this month, almost all states have seen a fall in power demand. Punjab, however, is an exception where the power demand on Monday was 17 per cent higher than on June 1.
July and August are expected to receive 107 per cent and 104 per cent of rainfall
Normally, kharif sowing of vegetable seeds starts during the first week of May across the country. Farmers start preparing their fields to make them suitable for kharif sowing during the second fortnight of April. Now, however, faced with the lockdown, farmers are in a hurry to clear their fields of rabi crop and prepare for kharif planting. With a normal monsoon forecast this year, they are doing all they can to take advantage of pre-monsoon showers.
'The intensity and frequency of heatwaves will be much higher than in previous years over Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.'
Steady progress in June; north and central regions to get good pre-showers
Millions of farmers plant rice, cane, corn, cotton and soybean crops in the rainy months of June and July. Harvesting starts from October
'We can save 70 patients out of 100, if they reach a hospital well within time.' 'The most crucial aspect is time.'
Large stocks were ruined in transit due to thunderstorm and rainfalls in the north and the north-east states, resulting in fewer kilos of potatoes at mandis.
'Both IIP and CPI inflation numbers are showing a huge disconnect from the leading indicators.'
In the first of a two-part series, Business Standard examines the impact of the upcoming summer on agriculture and drinking water supply.
The core stir issues of remunerative prices and a basic income for farmers has taken a political turn with three major agrarian states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh going to the polls in the next few months
The weather department has said that the skies are expected to be partly cloudy for the next few days in Delhi.
