Monsoon In India: Delhi and its adjoining areas such as Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad, and Faridabad are all set to experience a fresh Monsoon surge on Thursday, according to the weather department. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday the national capital Delhi and its nearby areas are likely to receive strongest spell of rainfall. While Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency, has also predicted cloudy sky with moderate rain and thunderstorms with isolated heavy to very heavy rain in the city.

In Uttar Pradesh, the IMD said rain/thundershowers and lightning are very likely to occur in the next three hours at isolated places over Jhansi, Jalaun, Rampur, Bareilly, Raebareli, Pratapgarh, Moradabad districts and adjoining areas. While heavy rain may also lash Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh today.

It would be one of the heaviest spells of the monsoon season so far in Delhi, Mahesh Palwat of Skymet Weather was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. "By July 29, the Monsoon Trough will once again start shifting to North that would lead to the revival of Monsoon activities over Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. Hence, we can say that the northeastern states will continue to witness good rain and thundershowers for the rest of July," said Skymet.

Delhi has recorded 156.5 mm rains from July 1 to July 23, which is four per cent more than the 30-year average of 149.8 mm. The city recorded 50.2 mm rainfall, the heaviest in the monsoon season this year, on July 22.

The IMD in a statement said widespread rain or thundershowers will occur over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh from July 24 to 27. It has predicted one or two heavy spells on July 25 and 26.

(With inputs from agencies)