The India Meteorological Department said on Tuesday that the southwest monsoon is likely to advance over Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in the next two or three days. IMD Director General M Mohapatra said monsoon may be declared over Delhi by July 5, the Hindustan Times reported.

However, the IMD said that Delhi may not receive heavy or widespread rain till July 10. A “well marked low pressure area” which was created over Southeast Jharkhand and adjoining areas of Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal now lies over western Jharkhand, the weather body said.

“We don’t see much possibility of heavy or widespread rains now over Delhi and NCR,” K Sathi Devi, head of national weather forecasting centre at IMD, said. “The low pressure area will influence the circulation pattern, wind direction will change to easterly. There may be some rainfall and cloudiness but not more.”

The IMD also said in its bulletin that temperatures were above normal in places like Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh on Tuesday. West Rajasthan experienced a heatwave on Tuesday, the weather body said.

Rains lashed Mumbai and other areas of Maharashtra on Monday and Tuesday, paralysing normal life. As many as 24 people were killed in rain-related incidents in the commercial capital on Tuesday. In Pune, six labourers died in a wall collapse.