India’s most awaited annual guest, the southwest monsoon, has decided to skip the slow drama this year and sprint across the entire country a full nine days ahead of schedule. Sparing not a nook or corner of the country, be it in Kerala among the coconut groves or in the heights of the mountains of Kashmir, with Delhi-NCR, long the last entrant in joining the rain fest, finally made its entry on June 29. It is the swiftest national coverage in 2020 and the fourth such occurrence that the rain gods have been so early to visit Delhi in the last 25 years.

The monsoon kicked off in Kerala on May 24, 8 days before default calendars would indicate, and as such, is one of the earliest arrivals since 2001. The rains went on a northward surge dutifully, drenching Mumbai in late May, then petering out in early June, with a 31 percent shortfall in the first half of the month. However, then, quite unexpectedly, like the student who suddenly realises that there will be exams tomorrow, the monsoon heightened the tempo- and what a tempo it was. Within three dozen days, it had covered 3000 kilometres of everything a place can offer, the coastal flats, the plateaus, the deserts, and even the smog-filled skyline of Delhi.

Delhi, which is notorious for its furnace-like pre-monsoon temperature, had an abrupt change from Cake-baking to Flash-wetting, as the temperature at 33 degrees Celsius nearly plunged five degrees below the average considered in season. The monsoon arrived in Delhi on June 29 in one of its earliest arrivals, two days before it was due (June 31, which technically does not exist...), and a day before most forecasters had tentatively scheduled it to arrive. In 24 hours, the humid oven turned into a soppy sauna! As soon as the dark clouds raised their curtain, Safdarjung received 5.1mm, Palam 13.6mm, Ayanagar 9.9mm--Najafgarh hardly tripped the low standard with 2mm. Hold onto your hats: thermometers lost their tops too as they fell to a seasonal low of only 32.8 C, a chilly five degrees lower than normal. Moist, more tempered - and lastly, rain-wet: the monsoons to a Dilliwala were when they could exchange sweaty dejection with traffic jams, roofs that leaked, and nice, wet streets east.

What the Numbers Say

The rainfall overall in India has now moved into positive 8 per cent territory due to the bounce back, which has reduced a 31 per cent deficit to the positive.

• Northwest India: +37%
• Central India: +24%
• East & Northeast: –17%
• South Peninsula: –2%

Kharif sowing has also had its share of success, and acreage has increased to 138 lakh hectares as compared to 125 lakh last year, the increase being over 10 per cent even in areas yet to match the pace. So, praise rains! Unless you're a Delhi traffic cop watching aquaplanes form overnight.

The lightning spread this year was not simply a fluke--it was muscled by meteorology:

1. Lush Low-Pressure Zones: A low-pressure system over the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea envelops the moisture around central and northwest India. Crops come almost out of the ground when Mother Nature sends a huge wet blanket.
2. Swinging Jet Streams: Variations in the upper-air streams, such as those that are tropical easterly, bring fresh moisture northwards. Himalayas and Western Ghats did what they always do, crunching the clouds into the magnificent rainfall.
3. Climate Backdrop: Warming oceans have led to a weakening of the monsoon circulation since the 1950s, but the warming of the land over the past decade appears to have redressed the balance. The result? A strong revival of the speed of the monsoon.

But keep a hold of that umbrella, since it doesn’t all seem sunny, or even rainbow-y: IMD has issued a note of warning amid the rejoicing: be prepared to see heavy to very heavy rain in the northwest, central, eastern, and northeast of the country next week. It covers most of the country, especially Jharkhand and Odisha, but also Himachal Pradesh and isolated flash flood risks in parts of Uttarakhand, UP, Delhi, and Haryana.

This early arrival is most opportune in an agricultural system that is predominantly rain-fed in India. Almost half of the cultivable area in the country does not have an irrigation facility, and so the sowing of crops like rice, sugarcane, cotton, soybeans, corn, and pulses has to be entirely dependent on the arrival of monsoon. The early start and up wash of the eight-percent surplus alone can cut back food inflation, and you may soon see your dal-sambhar costs go down.

Low-pressure currents will be in place to supply Monday showers through moisture flow strengthening (ritual to bring on more rain?). In Delhi, a yellow alert has been issued and one can expect light to moderate showers till July 5, but it is not ruled out that bigger pockets can come about.

Rain-starved farmers dancing to the citizens of India, rain-starved farmers gyrating with joy to Mad Max-like Delhi traffic, the early monsoons are dumping afflictions as well as blessings:

• Farmers: Expansion of cropping land, improved prospects of crop production.
• Economy: Food prices went down, reservoirs were re-chilled, and hydro-power was regenerated.
• Urban dwellers: Purchasing of AC late- slip-ups on the road.
• Authorities: Flash flood preparedness in flash flood-prone areas, particularly the sloping areas.

Through July–September, above-average rainfall (108% of long-period average) is expected, barring Ladakh and some parts of the NE Peninsula. As low-pressure systems continue to drop moisture across the map, spatial distribution remains key. Will Western UP and Haryana see enough or too much? Will Odisha dodge destructive flash floods? These are questions only time—and cloud-radar-mapped alerts can answer.

Final Drops

In short, the monsoon, as usual, has come too late and yet not at all, not in so many words, not in some other way. Now, with the burst of umbrella rib and the bustle of the tea stalls, India may get comfortable, drink its infamous chai, and appreciate the badly needed reprieve-with the impact of a waterlogged road and a late office day. No monsoon would be monsoon without a touch of mess with magic.

References

• Times of India. (2025, June 30).
• Hindustan Times. (2025, June 30).
• The New Indian Express. (2025, June 30).
• Reuters. (2025, June 26).
• Wikipedia. (2025).