Monsoon may end in Delhi after final spell

Delhi is expected to receive light monsoon rains from September 17-19, with withdrawal likely after September 22-23, as per IMD forecasts.

Delhi is likely to get its last spell of monsoon showers this week, with light rain expected from September 17 to 19, experts have said. However, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has not predicted any rainfall for the week.

Clear blue skies over the Lotus Temple near Nehru Place on Sunday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

As per IMD, the monsoon started withdrawing from parts of west Rajasthan on Sunday, three days ahead of its usual schedule of September 17. While it takes about a week for withdrawal to start from Delhi, officials have not mentioned any specific date so far. Meanwhile, the IMD has predicted partly cloudy skies for the week.

“The maximum and minimum temperatures will be around 35 and 25 degrees Celsius, respectively and partly cloudy skies are expected throughout the week,” an IMD official said.

Conditions are favourable for the withdrawal of southwest monsoon from some parts of west Rajasthan around September 15, IMD had said on Friday. If the monsoon starts withdrawing from west Rajasthan on September 15, this will be the earliest start of withdrawal since 2015, when it began on September 4. To be sure, 2016 also saw withdrawal from September 15.

Experts, however, said that the interaction of a western disturbance with a low pressure area over the south western states like Maharashtra and Chattisgarh will likely cause heavy rainfall there, while light rainfall can be expected in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana as well. This will push the retreat of the monsoon in Delhi to sometime after September 22-23, they said.

“It is likely that Delhi may receive light rains between September 16 and 19 because of the interaction between the western disturbance and low pressure area over the south western states. After that, it will take a few days to meet the necessary withdrawal criteria and monsoon retreat in Delhi can be expected by September 22-23,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet.

Officials said that some of the criteria to declare that monsoon is withdrawing from an area includes at least five dry days, anticyclonic winds, and a steep fall in humidity levels.

On Sunday, the minimum temperature was 25.6 °C, which was 0.6°C up from normal, while the maximum was 34.4°C, which is 0.5°C above normal. The humidity levels were between 89% and 58% on Sunday, as per IMD data.

Meanwhile, the AQI was recorded in the “moderate” category — at 108 — as per the daily bulletin released at 4pm by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The forecast mentioned that the air quality is expected to remain “moderate” for the next few days.