The monsoon is currently in its final phase in Uttarakhand. In a few days, it will withdraw finally from the State for this season. Southwest monsoon is retreating in several States across the region like Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, Uttarakhand Meteorological Centre director Bikram Singh told The Pioneer on Wednesday. The duration of monsoon season in Uttarakhand is spanning over four months from June 1 to September 30, he added.
This year, the withdrawal of the monsoon has started from the western part of Rajasthan from September 4, indicating the gradual closing of the rainy season. The southwest monsoon has been further withdrawing from some more parts of Rajasthan and some parts of Punjab and Haryana since September 8. The withdrawal line passes through Amritsar, Hissar, Ajmer and Barmer. Dry weather has been forecast in various parts of the State for the next couple of days. Whether Uttarakhand would have further heavy spell of rains in the coming days is uncertain. Things are unlikely, said the weathermen.
Uttarakhand has experienced overall rainfall measuring 845.8 mm against normal rainfall of 1,110.8 mm (showing departure minus 24 per cent) till September 9 this year.
Uttarakhand has received average deficient rainfall so far, said Singh. While Chamoli district, for instance, recorded the maximum 894.9 mm rainfall against normal rainfall of 788.8 mm which is 13 per cent more than the normal volume Pithoragarh received the minimum rainfall of 788.7 mm against the normal rainfall of 1518.3, marking minus 48 per cent deficient by September 9. Dehradun received rainfall of 1,219.9 against the normal rainfall of 1,654.4, marking minus 26 per cent deficient by Wednesday.
Singh further said that a variation of minus 19 per cent to plus 19 per cent is a normal phenomenon while a shortfall ranging from minus 20 per cent to minus 59 per cent is called deficient. The meteorological centre figures clearly indicate that the State has been experiencing average deficient rainfall for the past two years.
In 2013, the withdrawal of monsoon was declared on October 17. In 2014, the date was October 5. Uttarakhand received 897.6 mm of rainfall against the normal of 1229.2, showing shortfall of 27 percent between June 1 and September 30, 2014.
It should be mentioned here that in Uttarakhand, the monsoon normally withdraws by the third or the last week of September.