After a fortnight’s delay, the Southwest monsoon on Friday withdrew from entire northwest India. Between October 1-14, the region recorded 58.4 mm of rainfall, which was 346 per cent above normal. The presence of a cyclonic circulation over north Maharashtra on October 7, which moved along south Gujarat, northeast Rajasthan, southern Haryana and Punjab till October 11 led to a five-day-long rainfall over the northwest region, including Delhi-NCR. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said that the monsoon has now withdrawn from Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat along with most parts of Madhya Pradesh and some areas of Bihar and Maharashtra. The normal withdrawal date for the monsoon from Maharashtra and Bihar is October 5. Except for Maharashtra and Bihar, all these states recorded heavy rainfall from October 6-12, the IMD said. The monsoon withdrawal line now passes through Raxaul (Bihar), Daltonganj (Jharkhand), Pendra road (Chhattisgarh), Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh), Jalgaon and Dahanu (both in Maharashtra). In the coming two to three days, the withdrawal is expected to pick the pace and further retreat from more areas in central and eastern India and Maharashtra, the Met department said. “Conditions are likely to become favourable for further withdrawal of the Southwest monsoon from more parts of Maharashtra, central, east and northeastern India during the next three days,” IMD’s weather bulletin on the monsoon withdrawal issued on Friday said. Meanwhile, enhanced rainfall activity over southern peninsular India will commence from Friday because of two active cyclonic circulations - over the west-central Bay of Bengal and near the Comorin region. Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, Kerala, Mahe, Telangana, coastal Andhra Pradesh, coastal Karnataka, Lakshadweep and Rayalaseema will experience widespread heavy rainfall till October 17, the IMD said.
