Monsoon retreats from Capital

New Delhi: The monsoon withdrew from Delhi on Wednesday, with the city recording 20 per cent less rainfall this season, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The city recorded 467.7 mm rainfall against the normal of 585.8 mm between June 1 and September 30, it said.

The wind system had reached the national capital on June 25, two days earlier than normal, and stayed five days longer than usual. Normally, it withdraws from the city by September 25, Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the regional forecasting centre of the IMD, said.

"Change in the low-level wind pattern to north-westerlies, reduction in moisture content and cessation of rainfall indicates that the southwest monsoon has further withdrawn from some more parts of Rajasthan, remaining parts of Punjab, entire western Himalayan region, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and some parts of Uttar Pradesh," the IMD said.

According to Met department data, the city recorded 20 per cent less rainfall this monsoon season.

For smaller areas like Delhi, 19 per cent more or less than long-period average rainfall (50 years) is considered "normal". Between minus 20 per cent and minus 59 per cent is "deficient", and anything less than that is "scanty".

"Therefore, the overall rainfall which is an average of rainfall measured by all automatic weather stations and rain gauges installed at several places falls in the deficient category this season," Srivastava said.

Earlier this year, the Met department had revised the date for the withdrawal of the monsoon from Delhi from September 21 to September 25.

"The IMD revised the withdrawal date considering the trend in the last 20-25 years," Srivastava said.

Of all the 11 districts in the national capital, Central Delhi recorded the highest rain deficiency of 63 per cent.

In September, the Safdarjung Observatory -- which provides representative data for the city -- recorded just 20.9 mm rainfall, the lowest for the month in 16 years, according to IMD data. The average rainfall for September is around 129.8 mm.

The last time the weather station recorded any rainfall was on September 8.

According to the IMD, the national capital recorded only three rainy days this September, the lowest since 2016, when it witnessed just two rainy days.

Before this year, the lowest September rainfall was recorded in 2004 (3 mm). Delhi received just 1.6 mm precipitation in September 1994, according to IMD data. Interestingly, the national capital had gauged 237 mm rainfall in August this year, the highest for the month in seven years.