NEW DELHI: The Southwest Monsoon on Friday covered the entire country 12 days in advance due to the formation of a low-pressure area over Bay of Bengal and cyclonic circulation over central India basically helped in advance of monsoon, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The normal date to cover the entire country is July 8. In the recent past, such early coverage of Southwest Monsoon occurred on June 16, 2013.
“During past 24 hours, there has been fairly widespread rainfall activity over west Rajasthan and adjoining Punjab and Haryana in association with the cyclonic circulation at lower tropospheric levels over northeast Rajasthan,” said the weather office.
Considering the Southwest Monsoon onset and advance over the country as a whole, there has been normal progress over south and east India, about a week delay advance over northeast India and about 7-12 days early advance over central and northwest India.
“The early advance over central & northwest India was facilitated by formation of a low pressure area over Bay of Bengal which moved west-northwestwards and another cyclonic circulation over central India,” the IMD added. With the onset of monsoon, the Brahmaputra river is flowing above the danger mark at several areas in Assam.
One more person died in the flood on Friday, taking the death toll to 16 in the northeast state. According to official sources, over 2.52 lakh people in 704 villages and localities across 16 districts have been affected.