The southwest monsoon has covered almost half of the country, including the drought-hit Marathwada, even as the overall rainfall deficiency has come down to around 22 per cent, the Met department said today.
"Monsoon has covered half of the country," M Rajeevan, Secretary Ministry of Earth Sciences, said.
The drought hit Marathwada and parts of Vidarbha too have been receiving rains over the past two-three days.
Rajeevan said the monsoon should reach the national capital by last week of the month or early July.
"The southwest monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of central Arabian Sea, Konkan, Marathawada and Vidarbha, most parts of Madhya Maharashtra and some parts of southwest and east Madhya Pradesh," the IMD said.
The Northern Limit of Monsoon (NLM) passes through Dahanu, Malegaon, Pachmarhi, Jabalpur, Sidhi, Patna and Raxaul.
"Conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon into some parts of north Arabian Sea, south Gujarat region, remaining parts of Madhya Maharashtra, some more parts of Madhya Pradesh and East Uttar Pradesh and remaining parts of Bihar during next 48 hours," the IMD said.
The weatherman has forecast an "above normal" monsoon this year. However, its onset over Kerala, which marks the commencement of the rainy season in the country, was on June 8, seven days later than its normal date.
Also, it made a slow progress due to lack of a favourable system that could have given it a boost. The overall rainfall deficiency, which was 25 per cent until Saturday, has now dropped to 22 percent. It is expected to further drop down, it said.
