Southwest monsoon exits India in its entirety

The southwest monsoon has now withdrawn from all of India, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday.

The withdrawal this year came a week later than normal, the weather office added.

The southwest monsoon starts retreating from the northwestern parts of India on September 17, and withdraws completely from the entire country by October 15.


"The Southwest Monsoon has withdrawn from the remaining parts of the country today, October 23, 2022," the IMD statement read.

This was the fourth year at a stretch that the country had a normal monsoon season. This year's rainfall stood at 925 mm — 106 per cent of the long-period average (LPA) of 880 mm.

There was a significant rain deficit in various regions this year till late into the season. A late surge in September helped pare the deficit in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and the northeast. Before the rain revival, however, lack of rains impacted paddy crops in several states.

Rains continued beyond September 30, which marks the end of the southwest monsoon season, owing primarily to "two cyclonic circulations active over Madhya Pradesh and south Gujarat and its interaction with the mid-latitude weather systems, which brought rains to parts of north-west and central India in October."

According to IMD numbers, post-monsoon rainfall for the country between October 1 and 23 was 104 mm, almost 65 per cent more than the normal of 63.2 mm for the season.