New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued its long-range monsoon forecast, predicting "above normal" rainfall for the meteorological subdivision that includes Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana.

In a press conference on Tuesday, the IMD forecast a normal monsoon for northwest India and said that the entire country is expected to receive above-normal rainfall.The northwest, one of the four meteorological geographical regions, includes Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. It is expected to receive normal rainfall. The normal range is 92-108% of the long-period average.For Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana, a subdivision of the northwest region, the rainfall is expected to be greater than 114% of the long-period average (LPA). For this subdivision, the climatological normal monsoon accounts (as per readings from 1971-2020) for 431mm of rainfall. The months from June to Sept are considered the monsoon season.For Delhi, however, the long-period average is considered to be 640.4 mm.

Last year, the southwest monsoon retreated from Delhi on Oct 2. This was a delayed withdrawal. The arrival in 2024 was on June 28.The capital received 1,029.9mm of rainfall last monsoon, which was 62% above the LPA of 640.4mm for Delhi. Prior to the last monsoon, the monsoon in 2021 logged 1,176.4mm of rainfall, the highest since 1964.In 2024, upon its arrival, the city recorded 228.1mm of rainfall in a single day, the highest for a single day since 1936.

During the monsoon of 2023, the national capital recorded 660.8mm of rainfall.The IMD has also said that the region has a low chance of suffering heatwaves in June. "During June 2025, below-normal heatwave days are likely over most parts of north-west India and adjoining areas of central and east India," said IMD director-general of meteorology Mrutyunjay Mohapatra. He attributed the above-normal rainfall as the reason.As for the weather on Tuesday, Delhi saw a moderately warm day and a partly cloudy sky. The daytime temperature saw a two-degree rise and is expected to spike further on Wednesday. However, the IMD has also issued a yellow alert for Thursday and Friday, when rain and thunderstorms with gusty winds are forecast.The maximum temperature on Tuesday was 37.4 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal. The minimum was 25.6 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal, but slightly more than 25.2 degrees Celsius a day earlier.

The humidity oscillated between 87% to 46%, with variable winds of up to 4kmph.The maximum temperature on Wednesday is likely to hover around 38 to 40 degrees Celsius, which on Thursday will remain the same. However, a sharp fall is expected on Friday. The IMD expects strong winds up to 30-40 kmph on Thursday and Friday, with occasional gusts up to 60 kmph.The air quality of the city remained moderate. The AQI on Tuesday was 113 against 105, on a scale of 0 to 500.