Jharkhand Monsoon Forecast: Early Arrival Possible in Ranchi, IMD Predicts

Ranchi: With the official onset of monsoon likely around May 26 as announced by IMD earlier this week, Met officials in Ranchi said on Saturday that if weather conditions are favourable, they are hopeful of the southwest monsoon arriving early here as well.As per an IMD statement, the southwest monsoon has already advanced into parts of southeast Arabian Sea, southwest and southeast Bay of Bengal, many parts of Andaman Sea, entire Nicobar Islands and some parts of Andaman Islands.Baburaj PP, scientist and head of MeT department, Ranchi, however told TOI on Saturday that the arrival of mosnoon could be delayed in case of unusual weather activity like a cyclone.The southwest monsoon usually hits Kerala around June 1 and it takes around 12 days to enter Jharkhand through Sahibganj, Abhishek Anand, scientist and deputy director of the Ranchi MeT office, said, adding, “Therefore, going by calculations, this year, though the official date of monsoon arrival is June 15 in Ranchi, rains may hit Jharkhand as early as the first week of June.”Meanwhile, according to the Ranchi MeT office, during the past 24 hours till Saturday morning, light to moderate rainfall with thunderstorms occurred in isolated places over the state. The highest rainfall of 39.0 mm was observed at Nawadih (Bokaro). The highest maximum temperature of 39 degrees C was recorded at Daltonganj, while the lowest minimum temperature of 17.4 degrees C was recorded at Kanke (Ranchi).Ranchi city recorded a highest of 33.8 degrees C and a lowest of 21.2 degrees C.