Monsoon withdrawal in Delhi likely by Thursday, says IMD

Monsoon in Delhi will end in 40.9% excess, with the base weather station at Safdarjung having already recorded 902.6mm of rainfall since June 1

New Delhi

Clear skies over Connaught Place on Monday. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

Dry weather is expected to persist in Delhi-NCR this week, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday announcing that the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon is likely in Delhi between Wednesday and Thursday, around its normal withdrawal date of September 25.

Monsoon in Delhi will end in 40.9% excess, with the base weather station at Safdarjung having already recorded 902.6mm of rainfall since June 1, against the normal rainfall of 640.4mm for this period.

Last year, monsoon withdrawal was declared on October 2, with Delhi having received over 1,000mm of rainfall that regularly inundated key areas and left large parts of the city waterlogged. To be sure, it was the seventh wettest monsoon for Delhi—the wettest was recorded in 1933, when total rainfall was 1,421.6mm, according to IMD records.

In a statement, the IMD said the monsoon had further withdrawn from more parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab on Monday. “Conditions are becoming favourable for further withdrawal of southwest monsoon from some more parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab; some parts of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir during next 2-3 days...” the statement said.

An IMD official said dry westerly to northwesterly winds were being recorded in the region, with no rainfall likely in Delhi until the withdrawal. “There are little chances Delhi will add more rain to its monsoon total,” the official said.

Mahesh Palawat, of Skymet meteorology, said that with easterly winds missing, the criteria for declaring withdrawal is in place for Delhi. “Though easterly winds may return over the weekend, but we expect the withdrawal to be declared in Delhi before Friday,” he said.

Despite only recording eight rainy days this month, Delhi has already recorded excess rainfall this September. So far, Delhi has logged 136.1mm of rainfall this month, against the monthly long period average (LPA) of 123.5mm and keeping in line with the monthly trend of surplus rainfall since May.

Delhi this year recorded its wettest May, receiving 186.4mm of rainfall, over six times the normal of 30.7mm. In June, Delhi recorded 107.1mm of monthly rainfall, an excess of 45% over the LPA of 74.1mm. In July, Delhi received 259.3mm of rainfall, which was 24% more than the LPA of 209.7mm. August, meanwhile, was the wettest in 15 years, with 400.1mm of rainfall logged, marking an excess of 72% over the LPA of 233.1mm.

Palawat cited the continuous presence of the monsoon trough close to Delhi-NCR for most of the monsoon and conducive active weather systems as two key factors behind a wetter-than-usual monsoon.

The maximum temperature on Monday was 35.3 degrees Celsius (°C), a degree above normal. It is forecasted to be in the 33-35°C range until Thursday.