IMD declares monsoon withdraws from the country after longest recorded seasons

For the second consecutive year, the complete withdrawal of Southwest Monsoon and the onset of Northeast Monsoon over the country took place on the same day. By Wednesday afternoon, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) declared the monsoon withdrawal for this season.

Spanning close to five months since June, this year’s monsoon is one of the most extended monsoon seasons recorded over the country, said an IMD official.

The withdrawal, which began from western Rajasthan exactly a month ago, remained stagnant mid-way — after two low-pressure systems formed in the Bay of Bengal in early October. With La Nina conditions emerging in the equatorial Pacific Ocean



since late August, the withdrawal was expected to face a slight delay.

Though the normal date of monsoon withdrawing entirely from the country is October 15, with a margin of seven days considered normal, officials said a delayed withdrawal trend has been seen since 2006. In addition to the delay, the monsoon became active in September and remained so for nearly a month, thereby pushing complete withdrawal to late October.

With the onset of the winter monsoon, IMD has forecast heavy rain at isolated places in the southern parts of Tamil Nadu, Mahe and Kerala over the next five days, whereas the rest of the country will experience dry weather conditions in the coming days.