Monsoon withdrawal from Oct 10: IMD

The monsoon is likely to begin its retreat from October 10, a delay of more than a month, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday.

This is the longest delayed withdrawal of monsoon recorded by the IMD.

The monsoon was 'above normal' this year with the IMD recording precipitation of 110 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA). The LPA between 1961 to 2010 is 88 centimetres.

"Due to likely formation of an anti-cyclonic circulation over Rajasthan at 1.5 kilometres above mean sea level around October 6, the withdrawal of southwest monsoon is likely to commence from northwest India around October 10," the IMD said in its forecast.

Rains are likely to stop in northwest India after October 7 and conditions are ripe for withdrawal of monsoon, Mahesh Palawat, Vice President (Meteorology and Climate Change) of Skymet Weather said.

Normally, monsoon starts withdrawing from west Rajasthan from September 1.