Monsoon to withdraw from south Bengal by next week

The southwest monsoon is likely to bid farewell to Kolkata and other districts of south Bengal by the coming week, Met officials said.

The monsoon had already started withdrawing from parts of India since the last week of September.

By Sunday, it had withdrawn from most parts of central and western India, including Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttarakhand and some parts of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

“We expect it to start withdrawing from West Bengal in another few days. By next week, monsoon would bid farewell to the city and almost entire south Bengal,” said Sanjib Bandyopadhyay, deputy director general (meteorology) of the Indian Meteorological Department’s regional office in Kolkata.

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Sources in the Met office said that two cyclonic circulations – one over Jharkhand and another over West Bengal-Odisha coast – had triggered rain in almost all the Puja days. The city witnessed heavy rain on Nabami day.

“But this is probably the last monsoon rain that Kolkata received. While the circulation over Jharkhand already faded, the system over West Bengal-Odisha would not last more than 72 hours. Soon after that, we expect that monsoon would start withdrawing,” said a senior official.

Apart from the changes in pressure and other variants which only machines can detect, the air would become dry as the humidity levels would drop. The south easterly winds that come in from the sea during the monsoon would give way to northerly winds. There could be a nip in the air during the night.

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But the circulation, before fading, is likely to trigger heavy rain in the coastal areas on Wednesday. Some other districts, including Murshidabad and Nadia, could also get good rain.

Monsoon usually arrives in Kolkata by the second week of June. But this year, it had arrived late on June 18. But despite the delay, experts at the IMD were hopeful that rains would be normal to excess in the country this time.

“Till Oct 11, West Bengal was reeling under 26% deficit rain. Out of 36 states and union territories, seven including West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Haryana, UP, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram have received scanty rainfall,” said an officer.

Monsoon is considered normal if it is 96-104% of the 50-year average of 89 cm. If rains are between 104-110%, it is considered above normal.