Pre-monsoon showers lashed parts of north India on Sunday, including Delhi, bringing a much-needed relief to people from sultry weather, but the clouds disappointed those waiting patiently to see a 'ring of fire' in the skies during the solar eclipse.
At many places, people failed to penetrate the cumulonimbus clouds to see the spectacular celestial event, when the moon covered most -- but not all -- of the Sun, creating a ring of fire. At other places, like in parts of Gujarat, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, they were able to see only a partial solar eclipse.
The ring of fire was clearly visible in Dehradun and Tehri in Uttarakhand, where the monsoon is likely to arrive on Monday, and in Sriganganagar district of the desert-state Rajasthan, where it will reach later in the week.
The southwest monsoon has completely covered the southern and the eastern India and its curve is now passing eastern Uttar Pradesh through the middle of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, according to weather forecasting agencies. But pre-monsoon showers have been lashing parts of western UP, Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana.
Weather experts say the monsoon is likely to arrive in Delhi two-three days earlier than its usual date on June 27, because of a cyclonic circulation that developed over West Bengal and moved towards southwest Uttar Pradesh on June 19 and June 20, and will almost simultaneously cover Haryana and Punjab.
"It helped in further advancement of the monsoon, which has reached eastern Uttar Pradesh and central Madhya Pradesh. It is expected to reach west Uttar Pradesh and some parts of Uttarakhand by June 22," said Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the regional forecasting centre of the India Meteorological Department in Delhi.
Mahesh Palawat of Skymet Weather, a private weather forecasting agency, said intermittent rainfall will continue till the onset of the monsoon on June 24-25.
On Sunday, the maximum temperature in Delhi was 36.6 degrees Celsius, two notches below the normal. The humidity levels oscillated between 62 and 92 per cent, leading to a sultry weather.
During the next three days, the maximum temperature will hover around 35 degrees Celsius, IMD's Srivastava said.
In view of the approaching monsoon, the Delhi government has said it will not allow field staff of its maintenance units leave without prior approval. The PWD has asked its staff to inspect all drainage pumps to ensure minimum waterlogging.
There are often complaints of waterlogging on roads during the monsoon season.
The IMD has forecast rain and thundershower in eastern Uttar Pradesh and at few places in western parts of the state on Monday. Thunderstorm and lightening with winds gusting up to 40 kmph are very likely at some places in western UP on Monday, it said.
The day temperature in most places in Rajasthan has dropped by up to 2 degrees Celsius since Saturday and the highest in the state was in Sri Ganganagar at 41.9 degrees.
The weather department has predicted light-to-moderate rainfall and dust storm at several places in the state during the next 24 hours. In Punjab and Haryana, the maximum temperature hovered below normal limits.
Coastal Maharashtra is likely to receive widespread rainfall on Monday while other regions are expected to receive isolated to fairly widespread showers, the IMD said.
It said Konkan region, which took the brunt of cyclone Nisarga on June 3, would receive widespread rainfall in most places.
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