Monsoon withdrawal from northwest India to be delayed: IMD

New Delhi, Sep 16 (IANS) The commencement of withdrawal of the south-west monsoon from northwest India, slated for September 17, will be delayed this year due to unfavourable conditions till around September 29, the India Meteorological Department said on Thursday.

The IMD had last year announced the new normal dates for arrival and withdrawal of monsoon for various stations across India. Accordingly, September 17 is the date when the withdrawal is to commence from northwest India.

"Conditions are not likely to be favorable for commencement of withdrawal of monsoon from parts of northwest India before the end of the two-week period, i.e., September 29. This is due to the expected normal to active monsoon conditions and as a consecutive formation of two cyclonic circulations over the Bay of Bengal and their west-northwestwards movement across central and adjoining northwest India," said a senior IMD scientist.

There has been exceptionally intense rainfall in large parts of country earlier this week due to a deep depression that turned into a depression and travelled north-north-westwards from Bay of Bengal to over Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh. Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan and then Delhi and surrounding areas too witnessed moderate to heavy rainfall over last few days. Due to another low-pressure area, Gujarat too witnessed excessive rainfall leading to flooding in many areas.

The IMD is also monitoring a likely cyclonic circulation that can bring rainfall over eastern states from September 18 onwards.

The IMD had in 2020 announced new dates for arrival and withdrawal of monsoon for all places across India. As per the new normal, monsoon start its withdrawal from northwest India around September 17, which is a delay of more than 2 weeks compared to the then existing normal date (which was September 1).

Further monsoon withdrawal is declared to be much faster and by September 20, it is supposed to withdraw from more parts of Rajasthan and some parts of north Gujarat, and some western areas of Punjab and Haryana with a delay of only around five days compared to then existing normal date of September 15.

The IMD announcement last year also said that monsoon would withdraw from most areas of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit, Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, Ladakh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, west Uttar Pradesh and some parts of east UP and west Madhya Pradesh by October 1 (with a delay of only about 2-3 days compared to earlier normal dates) while it will withdraw from most parts of the country except south peninsula and some parts of neighbouring central India by October 15 (coinciding with earlier normal date of withdrawal).

After October 15, the southwest monsoon is supposed to retreat from the country and northeast monsoon is to establish over the southern peninsula.