Southwest Monsoon withdraws from West Rajasthan

The Southwest Monsoon has withdrawn from the West Rajasthan today, two weeks beyond its normal departure date of September 1, the IMD said.

The West Rajasthan frontier is where the monsoon reaches last and withdraws first.

Cessation of rainfall activity over the area for continuous five days, establishment of anticyclone in the lower troposphere and considerable reduction in moisture content are three major factor that determine the withdrawal of the seasonal rainfall.

"In view of the change over of the lower tropospheric circulation pattern from cyclonic to anti-cyclonic, reduction of humidity in the lower tropospheric levels and dry weather prevailing over West Rajasthan, the southwest monsoon has withdrawn from some parts of the west Rajasthan," the IMD said.
 

Thewithdrawal line passes through Anupgarh, Bikaner and Jaisalmer.

Meanwhile, the overall monsoon rainfall deficiency hovers around five per cent. From June 1 to September 15, the country as a whole has recorded 771.8 mm of rainfall as against an average of 814.2 mm.

With nearly 15 days for the monsoon to end officially, and deficiency of five per cent, the forecast of "above normal" rainfall by India Meteorological Department (IMD) is likely to fall flat.

The monsoon deficiency has reached to 14 per cent in east and northeast India while it has dropped to nine per cent in southern peninsula.

Situation is better in Northwest India where the deficiency is just 3 per cent.

Central India is the only region that has received 1 per cent more rains than its normal limit.

The IMD said "heavy to very heavy rain" at a few places with isolated "extremely heavy falls" are very likely tomorrow over Konkan and Goa; heavy to very heavy at isolated places over south Gujarat Region and Madhya Maharashtra; heavy at isolated places over Saurashtra and Kutch, Marathwada and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.