Shimla, June 26 (FN Bureau) The conditions are conducive for the onset of Southwest Monsoon in the next 24 hours in some parts of northern India, however, the first leg may be deficient and enter at a slow pace, the MeT office said Wednesday. Deep fog and humidity is soaring, above 75 per cent horizon are covered but sky is partly cloudy, the India Meteorological Department said, and also forecast that the monsoon system is likely to be active in Himachal Pradesh, part of Punjab, Gujarat, and Haryana in coming two days. The IMD said pre monsoon showers would lash many places by Wednesday afternoon and the frequency of rain may increase on Thursday.Monsoons would cover most places on June 28 and 29, the weather office said. Normally Monsoon enters Himachal Pradesh in the last leg June 24-25, but this year it has been delayed by couple of days. Humid conditions and heatwave continued in plains and mid hills but the mercury was expected to come down in next two days, the IMD said.
Pre monsoon showers doused a number of forest fires in the state, where 1,500 jungle blazes have been reported this season gutting lakhs of hectares including dense and protected forests. Heavy rain and cloudburst in the past 24 hours in Himachal disrupted traffic on major roads including in Gambarpul under Arki Subdivision, and Udaipur in Lahaul Spiti and Shilai. Maximum temperatures came down by two to three degrees in the hill states. The hill stations continue to be crowded. Maximum temperature of Una was 41.4 degrees on Tuesday (5 degrees above normal), Hamirpur 39, Chamba, Bilaspur and Kangra 37 degrees each, Mandi 35.4, Nahan 35, Dharmshala 33.5, Shimla 27 degrees, Dalhousie 31 and Manali 28.9, Kalpa 26 and Kufri 20 degrees Celsius.