Summer monsoon completes withdrawal from country while winter monsoon sets in over southeast peninsula, says IMD

NEW DELHI: Summer (southwest) monsoon has withdrawn from the entire country on Tuesday, exactly on its normal date of complete withdrawal from India, and the winter (northeast) monsoon simultaneously made its onset over the southeast peninsula bringing rains over many parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and south interior Karnataka, Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra Pradesh, IMD said on Tuesday.

The onset of winter monsoon in southeast India was triggered by the well marked low pressure area over the central part of south Bay of Bengal (BoB). “It (low pressure area) is likely to move west-northwestwards and intensify into a ‘depression’ over southwest BoB during next 24 hours,” said the IMD.

The system is likely to further continue to move west-northwestwards towards north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts during subsequent 24 hours, triggering heavy to very heavy rainfall over many parts along the south east coast.

Onset of the summer monsoon this year happened over Kerala and most parts of northeast India simultaneously on May 30against its normal date of June 1 and June 5, respectively. It covered the entire country by July 2 - six days before its normal date (July 8) of covering the entire India.

Its withdrawal started from some parts of West Rajasthan and Kutch on Sept 23, against its normal date of withdrawal on Sept 17, and the process ended on Tuesday. The four-month summer monsoon season (June-Sept) ended on Sept 30 in the ‘above normal’ category, recording nearly 8% more than normal rainfall over the country as a whole. Last year, the summer monsoon withdrawal was completed on Oct 18 whereas the winter monsoon made its onset on Oct 21.

Besides the low pressure system over BoB, there is currently another system - depression - exists over west-central Arabian Sea off Oman coast. “It is likely to move nearly westwards towards Oman coast and weaken gradually into a well-marked low pressure area during next six hours,” said the IMD.