After a two-week delay, the Southwest monsoon withdrew from entire northwest India on Friday. Between October 1-14, the region witnessed 58.4 mm of rainfall, marking a significant 346 percent above the normal level. The withdrawal process was influenced by a cyclonic circulation over north Maharashtra on October 7, which traversed south Gujarat, northeast Rajasthan, southern Haryana, and Punjab until October 11, resulting in a prolonged five-day rainfall over the northwest region, including Delhi-NCR.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials reported that the monsoon has now retreated from Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, along with most parts of Madhya Pradesh, and some areas of Bihar and Maharashtra. The normal withdrawal date for the monsoon from Maharashtra and Bihar is October 5. Despite this, all these states, except Maharashtra and Bihar, experienced heavy rainfall from October 6-12, according to the IMD.

The current monsoon withdrawal line extends through Raxaul (Bihar), Daltonganj (Jharkhand), Pendra road (Chhattisgarh), Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh), Jalgaon, and Dahanu (both in Maharashtra). Over the next two to three days, the withdrawal is anticipated to accelerate, further receding from additional areas in central and eastern India and Maharashtra, as per the forecasts from the Meteorological Department.

The IMD’s weather bulletin on the monsoon withdrawal, issued on Friday, stated, “Conditions are likely to become favourable for further withdrawal of the Southwest monsoon from more parts of Maharashtra, central, east and northeastern India during the next three days.”

Simultaneously, heightened rainfall activity is expected over southern peninsular India starting Friday, driven by two active cyclonic circulations—over the west-central Bay of Bengal and near the Comorin region. Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, Kerala, Mahe, Telangana, coastal Andhra Pradesh, coastal Karnataka, Lakshadweep, and Rayalaseema are forecasted to experience widespread heavy rainfall until October 17, according to the IMD.