Monsoon arrives in Bihar, showers lash state eastern districts

Patna: The much-awaited South-Western monsoon kept its date with Bihar and Jharkhand. It has finally set over north-eastern and south-eastern parts of Bihar and parts of Jharkhand, also.
"The expected date was June 18. It arrived a day earlier and moderate to heavy rainfall has been recorded in most of north-east and south-east districts.Though the state's tryst with monsoon was delayed by about a week due to delayed onset over Kerala, we hope if conditions are favourable , Bihar will definitely get good rainfall this year," said state IMD director AK Sen here on Friday.
The normal date of arrival of monsoon in Bihar is June 10. In the past six years, it has arrived late, said IMD sources.
A Delhi IMD release also said, "The SW Monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of Rayalaseema and Bay of Bengal, most parts of Coastal Andhra Pradesh West Bengal, Sikkim, and parts of Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.
Conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon into remaining parts of central Arabian Sea, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and East Madhya Pradesh, remaining parts of Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal, entire Telangana and some more parts of Jharkhand and Bihar during next 2-3 days"
Districts like Bhagalpur, Banka, Munger, Purnia, Katihar, Araria, Supaul,Madhepura, Saharsa etc recorded 3 to 4cm of rain, Sen said, adding south and central Bihar districts too would get light to moderate rainfall on Saturday and Sunday both. Conditions are favourable for its advancement in the remaining parts of the during the next 72 hours, said the weatherman.
Meanwhile, the light rain on Friday evening brought some relief to residents sapped by sultry conditions prevailing in the state capital also.
"If the weather conditions remain favourable as they are now till June 20, the entire Bihar will get good amount of rainfall. Incidentally, the monsoon which entered the state today after covering West Bengal and Jharkhand is neither weak nor very strong. But if it maintains its chartered path and moves unhindered, June will receive more than average rainfall," said state IMD sources.
"Easterly winds and high level of moisture are favourable for further onset of monsoon. The level of moisture in the troposphere over the city and most parts of the state is also high at present because of the upper air cyclonic circulation over the Bay and south Odisha causing rainfall in many areas. This led to light rain in the city also. The wind direction will remain easterly for a few weeks," added the IMD official