Southwest monsoon fully retreats from entire India
New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) announced on Tuesday that the southwest monsoon has fully retreated from the country, and the northeast monsoon has commenced in southeast peninsular India.
This year, the southwest monsoon reached Kerala on May 30 and covered the entire country by July 2, starting its withdrawal from northwest India on September 23.
Typically, the southwest monsoon arrives in Kerala by June 1, spreads across the country by July 8, and begins withdrawing from northwest India around September 17, completing by October 15.
“Today, the southwest monsoon has withdrawn from the whole country. Simultaneously, the northeast monsoon has begun over southeast peninsular India,” the IMD said in its statement.
During this monsoon season, India recorded 934.8 mm of rainfall, compared to the usual 868.6 mm, making it the wettest monsoon since 2020.
According to the IMD, strong low-pressure systems, especially in August and September, led to 8 per cent more rainfall than usual in 2024. June and July saw 2 per cent higher-than-normal rainfall, while August and September witnessed 12 per cent more rain than average.
The IMD noted that India did not experience any “break monsoon” periods this year, due to the frequent low-pressure systems.
Regionally, central India recorded 19.5 per cent more rain than average, peninsular India received 14 per cent more, and northwest India saw 7 per cent above-normal rainfall. However, eastern and northeastern India experienced 14 per cent less rain than expected.
While June had 11 per cent below-normal rainfall, July recorded 9 per cent more, August saw 15.3 per cent above average, and September had 11.6 per cent more rain than usual. Only three of India’s 36 meteorological subdivisions had less-than-normal rainfall this season. Twenty-one subdivisions recorded normal rainfall, 10 saw excess, and two had large excess rainfall.
The IMD reported that Rajasthan, Gujarat, western Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh received higher-than-normal rainfall this year.
In comparison, India received 820 mm of rain in 2023 (94.4 per cent of the long-period average or LPA), 925 mm in 2022 (106 per cent of the LPA), 870 mm in 2021, and 958 mm in 2020.
The IMD had forecast above-normal rainfall (106 per cent of the LPA) for the 2024 monsoon season, along with below-normal rainfall for northeast India, normal rainfall for northwest India, and above-normal rainfall for central and southern regions, which turned out to be accurate.
