The southwest monsoon has withdrawn from the entire country, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday. It is a long-drawn-out process that typically begins in Rajasthan from September 17 and fully exits the country by October 15. This year, however, the monsoon withdrawal began only on October 6.
The IMD stated that from 1975-2021, only seven times had the monsoon withdrawn after the 25th or beyond. Interestingly, six of them have been since 2000. Last year, which saw record-breaking rainfall in India that was 9% more than the long period average, also saw the southwest monsoon fully withdraw only on October 28.
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While September is usually the month that marks the beginning of the end, for the monsoon’s four month sojourn over India, 2021 has seen significant rainfall, with India posting 135% more rain than what's normal of for the season.
When August ended, India appeared to be dangerously close to a rainfall deficit and almost 9% short of what is normal from June–August end.
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The trend of heavy rainfall continued in October too with Kerala as well as Uttarakhand posting record rain on the back of warm ocean temperatures as well as active Western Disturbances. Though the monsoon system persists in India in some weeks of October, they aren’t counted as ‘monsoon rains’ and only June-September rains are counted as monsoon rains.