Southwest monsoon arrives in Himachal fortnight ahead of schedule

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 13

Southwest monsoon arrived in the state today, a fortnight ahead of the scheduled dates. Light to moderate rains occurred at most places. Normally, the monsoon arrives around June 29.

“Southwest monsoon has arrived in all parts of Himachal and moderate rains occurred in most parts of the state,” the director of the local MeT station, Manmohan Singh, said.

The earliest arrivals of monsoon in Himachal were recorded on June 9 in 1999, June 13 in 1998, June 15 in 2013. The latest arrivals were witnessed on June 17 in 1998, July 2 in 2019 and June 24 in 2020.

On Sunday, Kandaghat was the wettest with 51.6 mm of rains, followed by Shahpur with 36.5 mm of rains, Dalhousie with 28 mm, Nahan 23 mm, Una and Bijahi 22 mm each, Gaggal 21 mm, Jhandutta and Nadaun 20 mm each, Saloni 18 mm, Baldwara 17 mm, Dharmpur 16 mm, Nagrota Suriyan, Shillaro and Kheri 15 mm each, Sarahan and Wangtoo 14 mm each, Solan 12 mm, Dharamshala, Banjar, Sarkaghat, Kasauli and Kahu 11 mm each, Palampur and Jubbarhatti with 10 mm of rains each.

Himachal recorded 41.6 mm of rains from June 1 to June 13, which is 39 per cent more than normal and monsoon is expected to be good this year. The local Met office has issued yellow (thunderstorm and lightning) and orange (heavy rainfall, thunderstorm and lightning) warnings in low and middle hills in four to 10 districts for the next four days and predicted a wet spell in the region till June 19.

The Una district received 153 per cent excess rains, followed by Sirmaur with 93 per cent, Solan 92 per cent, Mandi 65 per cent, Kangra 81 per cent, Chamba 47 per cent, Shimla and Hamirpur 46 per cent each and Bilaspur 35 per cent. However, Lahaul & Spiti received 79 per cent deficit rains while Kinnaur and Kullu districts received one per cent deficit rain from June 1 to 13.

Sky remained overcast across the state and maximum temperatures decreased by 2 or 3 degrees C to remain 4 to 5 degrees C below normal and Una was the hottest in day with the maximum of 34.6 degrees C. Kalpa at 10.5 degrees C was the coldest at night.

Data on arrivals

• The earliest arrivals of monsoon in Himachal were recorded on June 9 in 1999, June 13 in 1998, June 15 in 2013.
• Himachal recorded 41.6 mm of rains from June 1 to June 13, which is 39 per cent more than normal and monsoon is expected to be good this year.