New Delhi:
Rain clouds dominated conditions in northern India on Sunday with showers lashing large parts of the region where monsoon arrived over a week earlier than expected in Himachal Pradesh.
Delhi, too, was in for showers in the evening as the city turned windy and overcast following a sunny afternoon. The maximum temperature was recorded at 37.2 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal and slightly lower than 38.6 degrees yesterday.
The minimum was a notch below normal at 26.4 degrees, the same as that yesterday, while humidity in air fluctuated between 48 and 79 per cent, the MeT office said.
In Uttar Pradesh, conditions were favourable for further advance of monsoon in the coming three days, MeT officials said. The state saw moderate to heavy rain and thundershowers at a few places along with very heavy rainfall at one or two places in the Moradabad division.
The highest maximum temperature recorded in the state was 40.3 degrees at Agra. Rajasthan saw the monsoon further advance in Udaipur, with the weatherman saying it was likely to cover several other parts of the state in the coming two days or so.
The highest rainfall of 7-cm in the state was recorded in Sarada town while Churu and Sriganganagar, too, received showers, measuring 4.2mm and 2.9mm, respectively.
Most parts of Himachal Pradesh, meanwhile, received heavy rain as the southwest monsoon was declared to have arrived in the state about 10 days in advance.
"The southwest monsoon has arrived in the state 10 days inadvance... In the first spell, it would remain active tillJune 19," MeT director Manmohan Singh said.
