After bringing bountiful showers across large parts of India, the south-west monsoon has embarked on its return journey, beginning from western Rajasthan and Kutch.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) confirmed that the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon, which resulted in five percent excess rainfall across the country, began on Monday. However, despite this, the weather office has predicted widespread rains in various regions in the coming week.
"Southwest monsoon has withdrawn from some parts of West Rajasthan and Kachchh on September 23, 2024, against the normal date of September 17. Conditions are favorable for further withdrawal of the southwest monsoon from some more parts of West Rajasthan and adjoining areas of Punjab, Haryana, and Gujarat during the next 24 hours," said the IMD.
Action may be taken based on ORANGE AND RED COLOR warnings.
Vulnerable regions likely urban and hilly areas action may be initiated for heavy rainfall warning.
While the majority of the country experienced normal to surplus rainfall, five of the 36 meteorological subdivisions recorded deficient rainfall, namely Jammu and Kashmir (-26 percent), Himachal Pradesh (-20 percent), Arunachal Pradesh (-30 percent), Bihar (-28 percent), and Punjab (-27 percent).
Among the 36 subdivisions, nine saw excess rains, including Rajasthan (74 percent), Gujarat (68 percent), as well as parts of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and coastal Andhra Pradesh.
Typically, the southwest monsoon makes landfall in Kerala by June 1, covering the entire country by the first week of July. It begins its retreat from northwest India by mid-September, with a complete withdrawal expected by October 15.
This year, the country received 880.8 mm of rainfall between June 1 and September 23, surpassing the normal of 837.7 mm for the same period.
The IMD also forecasts the formation of a low-pressure area over the west-central Bay of Bengal on Tuesday, which could bring more rainfall to states along the eastern coast. The weather office predicts fairly widespread rains with very heavy to extremely heavy downpours over coastal and northern interior Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, and parts of central, east, and northeast India in the upcoming week.
(This story has been slightly reworked from an auto-generated PTI feed.)
