Monsoon covers 80% of country's area

New Delhi: Continuing its rapid progress since its onset on June 3, the southwest monsoon has now covered nearly 80 per cent of the geographical area of the country within 10 days.

By Sunday, monsoon has covered the entire Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad and some parts of Haryana, Chandigarh and northern Punjab, covering nearly 80 per cent of the country's geographical area. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday afternoon said that the monsoon has reached the doorstep of Delhi, where it is most likely to arrive during the next two to three days.

The normal dates for the onset of monsoon over Chandigarh and Delhi are June 26 and June 27 respectively. Punjab and Haryana on Sunday morning experienced rainfall in several parts. A day prior it rained in the states from 5.30 pm on Saturday to 8.30 pm on Sunday. The weather office stated that the Union Territory of Chandigarh received 20.6mm rainfall. Mohali and Panchkula received equally heavy showers. In Punjab, several districts such as Bathinda received 49.4 mm rainfall, Faridkot 24.4 mm, Hoshiarpur 23 mm, Adampur 17.2 mm, Muktsar 51 mm, Balachaur 19.1 mm, Rajpura 57.6 mm, Ludhiana 15 mm and Jalandhar 10 mm.

Similarly, several districts in Haryana experienced downpour too, the Met said. These places were — Narwana 32 mm rainfall, Ratia in Fatehabad 52 mm, Ambala 28.6 mm, Hansi 20 mm, Jhajjar 19 mm, Narnaul 16 mm and Rohtak 14.8 mm. Sirsa received the heaviest rainfall of 101.4 mm, whereas Dabwali received 62 mm rain.

Monsoon has covered entire Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad and some parts of Haryana, Chandigarh and northern Punjab. Follow this space for the latest weather updates.

Meanwhile, rains lashed several parts of Punjab and Haryana on Sunday morning, and more showers are expected in the region over the next two days, the meteorological department said here. It said downpour was recorded at several places in the twin states between 5.30 pm on Saturday and 8.30 am on Sunday.