The Hindu : National : Southwest monsoon all set to withdraw

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Monday, Sep 10, 2007
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Southwest monsoon all set to withdraw

Special Correspondent

13 of the total 36 meteorological sub-divisions receive excess rainfall
Monsoon is all set to begin withdrawing from the middle of this month

NEW DELHI: With just a week left for the start of withdrawal of the southwest monsoon, the good news is that already the overall average rainfall this season has been 102 per cent of the normal rainfall.

Except for a small part of the country in the north-western Uttar Pradesh, east Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal, Haryana, and Delhi — the rest has had normal or above average rainfall. As many as 13 of the total 36 meteorological sub-divisions have received excess rainfall, mostly in the southern peninsula, the western coast and the eastern region.

The rainfall has bettered the expectations of experts in the India Meteorological Department.

Just before the beginning of the season, they had forecast a rainfall of 95 per cent plus or minus five per cent and in a mid-term review on June 29 had further reduced the expectation to 93 per cent plus or minus four per cent.

According to the Department, the monsoon is all set to withdraw from the middle of this month, paving the way for the onset of the northeast monsoon, which will primarily benefit Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and other parts of the south peninsular region.

Senior officials said on Sunday that there were strong indications that the monsoon could start withdrawing from around September 15, beginning from the western most parts of Rajasthan and lead to the setting in of the northeast monsoon from about the first week of October.

“This year, the monsoon started off well. It will now end also on a good note, in keeping with the normal pattern.”

As of September 5, western Uttar Pradesh suffered the maximum deficiency of minus 35 per cent, followed by east Madhya Pradesh (minus 34 per cent), Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi sub-division (minus 33 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (minus 32 per cent), and Punjab (minus 24 per cent).

The best performance has been in the Rayalaseema sub-division in Andhra Pradesh.

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