Bhubaneswar, June 17 -- New satellite observations released by European, American, and Indian meteorological agencies highlighted a worrying trend in India's southwest monsoon, with significantly reduced cloud cover visible over large regions across the country during a crucial phase of the rainy season.

Images captured on Tuesday by EUMETSAT's Meteosat Indian Ocean Data Coverage (IODC), NOAA weather satellites and ISRO's INSAT-3DS indicate that extensive areas of central, western and peninsular India remain largely free of the dense cloud bands generally associated with an active monsoon season.

The latest satellite observations stand in sharp contrast to normal expectations nearly two weeks after the monsoon's onset over Keralam. Inst...