New Delhi: Giving deficient rains to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the south-west monsoon on Tuesday started withdrawing from parts Rajasthan and adjoining Kutch in Gujarat. Six other states also experienced scanty rainfall this monsoon, IMD sources said.
It was for the first time since 2016 that the monsoon started withdrawing in the third week of September.
”Southwest monsoon has withdrawn from parts of southwest Rajasthan & adjoining Kutch today, against its normal date of withdrawal from southwest Rajasthan of September 17,” the India Meteorological Department (IMD) tweeted.
The weather office said the conditions for withdrawal of monsoon – no rains for five days, formation of anti-cyclone and dry weather conditions over the region – were met.
”The line of withdrawal of the southwest monsoon passes through Khajuwala, Bikaner, Jodhpur and Naliya,” it said.
According to the weather office, India had received 7 per cent excess rains, but eight states – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Delhi, Punjab, Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur – recorded deficit rainfall.
The south-west monsoon season begins on June 1 and continues till September 30.
India received 878.5 mm of rainfall between June 1 and September 20, which was 7 per cent higher than the normal rainfall of 822 mm for the period under review.
The deficient rains in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh has hit sowing for paddy in the states. As of September 16, the area sown to paddy was 18.90 lakh hectares less than the previous year during the kharif season.
