The weak, westerly and south-westerly winds have adversely affected the monsoon in Maharashtra’s North Konkan region (including Mumbai). This led to the advancement of monsoon season to face a setback in those regions.
The monsoon reached Ratnagiri last week. It takes around 48 hours for the monsoon to reach Mumbai from Ratnagiri under favourable weather conditions. But, because of the weak south-westerly winds, it’s now been almost a week since the monsoon has stalled in Ratnagiri.
According to IMD sources, “ The situation as of now is not favourable for further advancement of monsoon in the North Konkan region. Strong westerly and south-westerly winds are required for the advancement of monsoon. There are westerly and south-westerly winds in the region, but not strong enough to pull the monsoon towards the North Konkan, Mumbai region.”
The sources also mentioned that whatever little rain is occuring, it’s because of the cyclone moving inwards and creating moisture. There are hardly any clouds in the region and there is no rain in the interior sections of Maharashtra and so, the rain occuring in the North Konkan coastal region is not because of monsoon advancement.
Based on current weather conditions, it’s unlikely for North Konkan and Mumbai to witness rainfall during the end of June or the beginning of July, causing a rainfall deficit in Maharashtra in June, the sources indicated.
June is a crucial month for the agricultural sector, especially for the farmers as it is the sowing season. Delay of monsoon means delay of sowing season which is going to cause interference in the harvest cycle. Especially for farmers, recovering from losses caused by the heatwave, the delayed monsoon is going to make conditions worse for them.
