Monsoon covers entire country

New Delhi: After advancing over Delhi- NCR, the Southwest Monsoon covered the entire country on Tuesday after a delay of five days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The Southwest Monsoon usually covers the entire country on July 8. The earlier normal date for the monsoon to cover the entire country was July 15. Last year, the IMD revised its onset date for several areas. It is also one of the usual instances when monsoon has covered the national capital in the end.

The monsoon covered its last outposts - the desert town of Jaisalmer and Ganganagar in Rajasthan - on Monday but evaded Delhi. It covered Barmer, another desert district in Rajasthan some two weeks before its normal onset date. On Tuesday, several parts of the NCR received rainfall following which the IMD declared monsoon's arrival in Delhi.

It hit Kerala on June 3, two days after its normal date of June 1. It rapidly covered most parts of central, west, east, northeast and south India by June 15.