Lucknow: Monsoon made a quiet entry into Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, 12 days behind its scheduled arrival. As per records, it is after 16 years that monsoon advancement into UP has been so late. Earlier, in 2010, the monsoon had arrived in the state on July 4.This year, the monsoon currents, which were stalled on UP-Bihar border for at least 15 days, entered the state through Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Balrampur and Shravasti on Tuesday and covered many parts of east UP upto Ayodhya. A stream of the monsoon travelled all the way to Ladakh, covering most parts of the Terai belt in UP bordering Nepal and Uttarakhand.Meteorologists said the monsoon is expected to advance across the remaining parts of the state, including Lucknow, over the next two to three days. The monsoon normally reaches UP by June 18 and Lucknow by June 23. They added that sustained rainfall would be required to offset the June rainfall deficit, which stood at 54% below normal from June 1 till June 30.Mohammad Danish, senior scientist at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Lucknow, said a cyclonic pressure over Bihar and eastern UP pushed the monsoon towards UP. “Widespread rainfall is expected across the state in the next 2-3 days. It will also cause a drop in temperatures and bring relief from severe hot and humid conditions prevailing for the past several weeks,” he predicted.Rainfall was reported from several districts of east UP and Terai on Tuesday. Bareilly recorded 157 mm, highest in the state, followed by Lalitpur (106mm) and Lakhimpur Kheri (96.4mm).On the other hand, Lucknow airport recorded just 0.6 mm of rain. However, change in weather brought relief from the hot and humid conditions that had prevailed in Lucknow over the past several days.The city recorded a maximum temperature of 32.1 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, 3.8 units below normal, while minimum temperature was 28.4 degrees Celsius, 2 notches above normal. Relative humidity ranged between 64% and 89%.On Monday, the maximum temperature in Lucknow was 39.7 degrees Celsius. The mercury levels during the day dropped due to a cloudy sky and cool and moist easterly winds. However, the same cloud cover kept the night temperatures high by not allowing ground heat to escape into the atmosphere.The IMD has forecast generally cloudy skies with a few spells of rain and thundershowers in Lucknow on Wednesday. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 31 degrees Celsius and 25 degrees Celsius, respectively.
