NEW DELHI: The southwest (summer) monsoon withdrew from the entire country on Thursday, exactly on the date of its normal withdrawal, while the northeast (winter) monsoon rainfall activity simultaneously commenced over part of south Peninsular India, IMD said.Summer monsoon normally starts withdrawing from west Rajasthan on Sept 17 and its withdrawal process ends on Oct 15. This year, the withdrawal started on Sept 19. Last year, the complete monsoon withdrawal happened by Oct 16.
A diagrammatic representation of the Southwest Monsoon withdrawal.
“With the onset of the northeast Monsoon, a wet spell with isolated heavy falls is likely over many parts of south Peninsular India till Oct 21,” said the Met department. The parts of south India that witnessed winter rainfall showers on Thursday include Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra Pradesh, south interior Karnataka and Kerala.IMD has already predicted a ‘normal’ winter monsoon in south Peninsular India during the Oct-Dec period. Overall, south Peninsular India receives about 30% of its annual rainfall during the northeast monsoon season (Oct to Dec). Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal receive approximately 48% of their annual rainfall during the season.
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Normal winter monsoon rainfall this year may bring some relief to the region, which received the fourth-lowest summer monsoon rainfall since 1901 and the second-lowest since 2001.Though the country as a whole recorded a deficit of nearly 13% during the June-Sept summer monsoon period — the fourth-lowest season since 2001 and 13th lowest since 1901 — the deficit in Karnataka was as high as 30% followed by 28% in Kerala, 25% in Andhra Pradesh and 20% in Tamil Nadu.