Monsoon likely to hit north India by July 5

After missing its deadline, the monsoon is likely to hit the national capital and parts of north India by the end of the week, a private forecasting agency said on Monday.

"A slow monsoon progress delayed the arrival of southwest monsoon in Delhi and north India, making the month of June, one of the driest in a decade in the country. But July has some good news in store as monsoon is expected to reach Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and west Uttar Pradesh by the end of this week," Skymet, a private forecasting agency said.

Monsoon was to hit the national capital by June 29, but has been delayed by a week. However, Delhi and parts of northern India might see rain spells and cloudy skies because of the trough extending along the foothills of Himalayas.

"Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar may continue to get rain during 24 hours. Rain in Delhi and Punjab could pick up from 5th July, which is when we are expecting monsoon to make an entry," the agency said.

The Indian Meteorological Department also said that heavy to very heavy rainfall would occur at isolated places over sub­-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim and places over gangetic West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam and Meghalaya.

The IMD added that conditions are becoming favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon into some more parts of Uttar Pradesh and some parts of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Haryana during next 3­4 days.

However, it cautioned that parts of north India may experience heat wave. "Heat wave conditions would prevail at isolated places over Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and north Madhya Pradesh, but by Tuesday, such conditions could be seen in Rajasthan, giving some relief to other states," the Met department said.