A delayed withdrawal of South West Monsoon may bring heavy rainfall this season and could play a spoilsport as the festive season is all set to begin. The reason for the delay, according to the weatherman, is a low pressure over the Bay of Bengal and it could take at least another one week for the monsoon to withdraw.
Usually, the monsoon departs from the Capital around September 21, but this year there has been a delay, which is likely to coincide with the festive season. With just a few days left for Durga Puja and Navratri festival, which is celebrated with fanfare across the city, the delayed withdrawal could play a dampener as the Met department has predicted more showers in the coming days. The withdrawal line has remained static for almost two weeks now as it continues to pass through Kalpa in Himachal Pradesh, Hisar in Haryana, Jodhpur in Rajasthan and Nalia in Gujarat.
"The delay in withdrawal of monsoon is due to the creation of low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal. This phenomenon is likely to continue for a week," said a senior scientist at the Meteorological Department, Delhi. However, organisers of various Durga puja mandals and Navratra mandals seem to have taken precaution to tackle this. "We have asked our contractor to build a water-proof pandal to tackle the problem just in case it rains," said Ratan Mukherjee, an organiser of a Durga Puja at Chittaranjan Park in New Delhi.
"The period of transition of weather is very crucial. Until September 16, the withdrawal process of monsoon was normal. However, as the monsoon was withdrawing, the low pressure area on the eastern coast moved inland halting the withdrawal of monsoon. This reversed the weather pattern. This is the reason why central India is still getting heavy rainfall," said VK Rajeev, Director of IMD Mumbai.