New Delhi: The southwest monsoon has covered the entire country, way ahead the scheduled date, India Meteorological Department said on Friday.

"Monsoon has covered entire India today 26 June 2020. Remaining parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan is also covered by the monsoon," Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of IMD's Regional Weather Forecasting Centre told IANS.

The monsoon usually covers all parts of the country by first week of July, but this time the development of Cyclone Nisarga over the Arabian Sea coincided with the onset of monsoon over Kerala and formation of a low-pressure over the Bay of Bengal, which immensely helped it advanced rapidly over the country.

On Thursday, the national capital received its first monsoon rain, after the southwest monsoon advanced into the region two days in advance.

IMD had predicted monsoon to reach Delhi on June 27, earlier this year. In 2019, the monsoon hit the capital city on June 29. In the past few years, monsoon has arrived earlier in the city earlier than its expected date.

Monsoon rains are critical for farmers in India as the majority of the country's net-sown area does not have any form of irrigation. Farmers wait for the rains to begin sowing of crops (IANS)