Monsoon is still stalled at Ratnagiri for the North Konkan region. But both government and private weather forecasting agencies believe that it will reach Mumbai in the next two-three days.

IMD officials told CNBC TV-18 that though the monsoon is still at Ratnagiri, the weather conditions are now favourable for its advancement. Westerly and South-westerly winds have gained strength now. Cloud formation has also happened in the region.

Sunil Kamble, IMD head of the Mumbai region, said, "The weather conditions are favourable now. We are witnessing light rainfall in some areas now. We are expecting the onset of monsoon in Mumbai to take place between June 24 and 26."

As per IMD, Mumbai and other areas of the North Konkan region will witness moderate to heavy rainfall in the coming week.

Dismissing, the claims of private weather vloggers and YouTubers, IMD claimed that there are no systems that will result in the next week being alarming in terms of extremely heavy rainfall for Mumbai.

The IMD said circulation is formed in the Bay of Bengal, and that has resulted in some development in terms of monsoon advancement in the south-eastern region of the country. The pull effect of this circulation is also been visible in other parts of the region.

GP Sharma, President (Meteorology), Skymet, said, "We are expecting the monsoon to reach Mumbai by June 26. The rainfall will start in the next 24 to 48 hours, and from June 27 onwards, Mumbai will start witnessing good rainfall."

"For Mumbai, the most delayed monsoon arrival was in 2009 when the monsoon reached the financial capital on June 27. After this, it was in 2019 that monsoon reached Mumbai on June 25.

If the monsoon does not reach Mumbai by June 27, it will be a new record in terms of delayed monsoon. Like 2023, 2009, the year which witnessed the most delayed arrival of monsoon in Mumbai was also an El Nino year," Sharma said.

But IMD claims that June 25 is the most delayed monsoon arrival date in Mumbai's history. As per the IMD, it was in 2019 that monsoon arrived in Mumbai on June 25. Both IMD and Skymet have made a forecast that this year, the monsoon will reach Mumbai by June 26.

First Published:Jun 23, 2023 11:46 AM IST