Monsoon to start withdrawing from Saturday

Monsoon rains in the national capital are likely to abate from Saturday, the weather office said on Monday.

"There is nothing unusual about the good spell of rain we received this year. The withdrawal of southwest monsoon is likely to commence from parts of north India by September 29," said a scientist at the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Last year, the rains began abating from September 27.

On Monday, the Palam observatory recorded 7.6 mm of rains and the Safdarjung observatory 8.8 mm.

Private weather forecasting agency Skymet termed it one of the best Septembers for Delhi in recent years.

"This time, rains have been on the higher side, with Delhi being able to record a whopping 225 mm of rains against its monthly average of 129.8 mm of rainfall, which is almost 100 mm more.

"The city has recorded the second highest monthly rains, with the highest ever being 332 mm in September 2010," it said.

Due to the rains, the air quality of the national capital has markedly improved to "satisfactory" category.

--IANS

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