india

Updated: Jun 25, 2019 07:50 IST

The progress of the monsoon is likely to slow down later this week before it picks up again around July 1, private forecaster Skymet Weather said on Monday, a day after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) made a similar forecast.

The monsoon has progressed in the past three to four days, and a good rainfall is expected in the next 48 hours.

Skymet has recommended that sowing of crops should be taken up in central, south and east India before there is a dry phase again.

According to IMD, monsoon has advanced to some parts of central Arabian Sea, Konkan, most parts of central Maharashtra, parts of Marathwada and Vidarbha, some parts of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, UP and Uttarakhand. There is a 37% deficiency in monsoon rain compared to long period average (LPA) as on June 24. LPA is the average rainfall received across the country as a whole during the southwest monsoon, for a 50-year period.

IMD scientists had said on Sunday that monsoon was likely to weaken in the absence of any weather system to take the monsoon circulation further, till a low pressure system develops around July 1.

“There is forecast for good rains in the next 48 hours in Maharashtra, MP, Karnataka but after that rain intensity will go down over Kerala, South interior Karnataka, eastern UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Rainfall will be subdued over most parts of northwest India also. This is because there is no significant weather activity like a low pressure system or a cyclonic circulation which will help advancement of monsoon,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice-president, (meteorology and climate change) at Skymet Weather.

“As the moist winds from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal are penetrating Central and Northwest India, the soil moisture content is likely to improve further. However, the overall performance of Monsoon has been very lacklustre...,” Skymet Weather’s statement said.