Monsoon ends today, but heavy rain continues

New Delhi: The four-month monsoon season is officially ending on Monday, but it is unlikely that it will withdrawal in the coming week, IMD Director General Mritunjay Mohapatra said on Sunday.

The monsoon season officially begins on June 1 and ends on September 30. It reaches Ganganagar in west Rajasthan, the last post for the monsoon in the country, on July 15 and starts retreating from September 1.

However, the monsoon has not shown signs of withdrawal. Instead, active monsoon still prevails over parts of Rajasthan, Bihar and UP. Parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan are getting rainfall due to a low pressure area and this could continue until October 5, Mohapatra said.

The IMD in its forecast until October 3 sees "large excess rainfall" likely over Bihar and adjoining areas of east UP, Jharkhand and Gangetic Bengal and "above normal" rains over Punjab, MP, interior Maharashtra, north Odisha, Gujarat, Mizoram, Tripura, Kerala and Lakshadweep.

Mohapatra said this could also, perhaps, be the longest recorded delayed withdrawal of monsoon. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has monsoon records from 1960.

K J Ramesh, Mohapatra's predecessor, said there have been instances in the past that monsoon has withdrawn in the first week of October.

"It has been observed that the instances of delayed monsoon withdrawal is on the rise since 2010," Ramesh said.