Maharashtra: Delayed by two weeks, monsoon to withdraw completely from state today

The normal withdrawal dates from Maharashtra, as issued by the India Meteorological Department, is between October 8 and October 11.

This year, the state recorded 16 per cent surplus rain during the June to September period and the trend continued for three weeks in October. Some places here recorded nearly half of their seasonal quota of rain in October, and the state has reported 77 per cent excess rain this month till October 26.

Normally, Pune records 78 mm of rain in October but this year, the city has received 312 mm, with five days still left in this month. Similarly, Pune district recorded 210 per cent surplus rain in these three weeks.

Some of the districts where good rainfall activity continued during October include Mumbai, Pune, Raighad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Thane, Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Solapur and Aurangabad. Except Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon and Buldhana, all districts have reported normal to above normal rainfall this month.

The monsoon withdrawal line, on Monday, passed through Cooch Behar, Sriniketan, Keonjhargarh, Nalgonda, Nanded, Nashik and Dahanu.

Even though monsoon retreat this year commenced from western Rajasthan on September 28, its progress remained stagnant after October 6. It was stalled mainly due to the formation of two consecutive low-pressure systems in the Bay of Bengal. As a result, monsoon remained active over central and peninsular India till as recent as last week.

IMD officials said monsoon withdrawal from the entire country is expected by October 28, along with simultaneous commencement of Northeast Monsoon over the southern peninsula.