NEW DELHI: After having made the slowest progress in at least 12 years, the monsoon has broken into a sprint, nearly covering 10 states and entering two more within a span of four days since June 19 while racing into east Uttar Pradesh in the north. With a low-pressure system giving it wind, the monsoon strode into Varanasi on Sunday, covering nearly 700km in four days from its position over north Bay of Bengal last Wednesday.The push from the Bay of Bengal arm has led to an unusual situation of the monsoon having reached Varanasi while being still to arrive over Mumbai, which it normally hits by June 10. “Monsoon is likely to reach Mumbai in a day or two and cover most parts of Maharashtra by June 25, after which the system is likely to go into a brief lull again,” said D Sivananda Pai, IMD’s lead monsoon forecaster.In the north, monsoon may push a little further into UP on Monday before the low pressure system driving it runs out of steam, Pai added. The rapid strides in the last four days, however, haven’t made a significant dent in the overall rain deficit this month. Monsoon rainfall remains 38% lower than normal this month (June 1 to 23). The deficit has reduced from 44% on June 19, but still remains significantly high due to monsoon’s late onset and slow initial progress.Nonetheless, monsoon’s speedy progress this week should come as good news for regions battling drought conditions in central India and parts of the south. Rains over Bihar will also moderate temperatures in the state, leading to a likely drop acute encephalitis cases. Marathwada and Vidarbha, both battling acute water shortages this summer, were among the regions that received good rain on Sunday.Madhya Maharashtra, Rayalaseema, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh , Bihar and east UP were the other sub-divisions were monsoon was active. Karnataka, Telangana , west MP and J&K also received some rain on Sunday. While monsoon is likely to cover Maharashtra and enter MP and south Gujarat over the next couple of days, its further progress, particularly into most of northwest India, may depend on another low-pressure system coming in from Bay of Bengal. “As of now, there is no sign of a low forming over Bay of Bengal. Many parts of north India may get thundershowers, outside the monsoon system, in the next few days. It’s difficult to say at present when monsoon will hit Delhi and neighbouring states,” Pai said.With many regions still awaiting a delayed monsoon, central India continues to run a high rain deficit of 43.5% while east and northeast reels under a deficit of 44% in the June 1-19 period. South too has a high shortfall of nearly 30% while north India, which is the last region to come under monsoon system, has a relatively lower deficit of 20%. It is likely that June will end up with a large rain deficit, said IMD officials. “The presence of a weak El Nino seems to have affected monsoon, delaying its onset over the Indian mainland and its slow progress thereafter,” an official said.Read this report in Bengali