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Pre‑Monsoon Storms Break Heatwave Across Northern and Western India

The storms reflect a western disturbance pulling coastal moisture into northern India, signaling a monsoon season likely to yield below‑normal rainfall.

Overview

  • Pre-monsoon showers and thunderstorms prompted yellow or orange IMD alerts for Delhi, Mumbai and more than 60 districts of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, May 31.
  • Rain and gusty winds drove daytime highs down in Delhi by as much as 9.4°C at some stations and temporarily improved the city’s air quality into the 'satisfactory' range.
  • Mumbai saw the season’s first pre-monsoon showers with highly localised heavy pockets and BMC gauges reporting up to about 27–35 mm in some suburbs.
  • Heavy downpours in Uttarakhand led authorities to temporarily suspend the Kedarnath yatra and strand hundreds of pilgrims before rescue teams evacuated people and restrictions were eased.
  • The IMD attributes the spell to a western disturbance plus moisture inflow, expects showers to linger into early June before weakening, and forecasts the southwest monsoon will likely deliver roughly 90% of the long‑period average with implications for water and crop planning.