Monsoon pulls out of Delhi with 61% excess rain
The exit of the monsoon caps this year’s long and wet season, often leading to widespread chaos and destruction across the city due to sudden bursts of heavy rain
The southwest monsoon officially came to an end in Delhi on Wednesday – a week later than normal – with more than 60% excess rainfall, making it the seventh wettest season recorded in the city in over 120 years, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The exit of the monsoon caps this year’s long and wet season, often leading to widespread chaos and destruction across the city due to sudden bursts of heavy rain.
The nearly consistent rains that Delhi saw in the four monsoon months of June, July, August and September meant that the Safdarjung station – representative of Delhi’s weather – received 1,029.9mm rainfall this monsoon, 60.8% higher than the normal mark of 640.4mm, according to IMD records.
This makes it the seventh-highest rainfall recorded in a monsoon season since weather record-keeping started in 1901, according to IMD.
The wettest monsoon in Delhi’s history was lodged in 1933, when 1,421.6mm of rain was recorded, as per records. It was followed by 1964 with 1,190.9mm of rain, 2021 with 1,169.7mm rain, and 1975 with 1155.6mm rain, 2003 with 1,052.8mm of precipitation and 2010 with 1031.1mm rainfall.
Data also shows that Delhi experienced heavier-than-usual rain nearly throughout the season. July is the only month that saw a deficit (-6% departure from normal) in this year’s monsoon.
The heaviest rain by far (when compared to the normal) was seen in June, which saw 229% excess rain this year with 243.4mm rain. It was followed by August, which experienced an excess rain of 67% (233.1mm), and September (192.5) with 56% excess precipitation.
Last year, rainfall was deficient in the final two months of monsoon.
But not only was this monsoon wet, it was also longer than usual, records show.
The withdrawal date of October 2 makes it a full week behind schedule – the normal date for monsoon withdrawal from Delhi is September 25. Withdrawal was declared over Delhi on September 30 last year.
“Monsoon started withdrawing from Rajasthan on September 17, and withdrew from there on September 23, making it late to pull out in Delhi as well,” said an IMD official.
Furthermore, during this monsoon Delhi experienced around nine rainy days more than what is normally experienced. Safdarjung recorded rain on a total of 39 days – 8.8 more than normal, IMD data showed.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday the maximum temperature was 37.2 degrees Celsius (°C) while the minimum was 26.2°C, both three degrees above what is considered normal for this time of the year. Similar conditions are expected to continue for the next few days.
“Temperature is expected to be high for a few days before it starts reducing,” an IMD official said.
“Mainly clear sky is expected to continue. The maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 36 and 26 degrees Celsius respectively,” said an IMD official.
The Air Quality Index on Wednesday was 174 in the moderate category and is likely to remain so over the next six days as per CPCB’s AQI bulletin.