The southwest monsoon withdrew from parts of northwest India on Wednesday, including the national capital, where it has withdrawn two days before its normal date of September 25. This was also the earliest withdrawal of the monsoon from Delhi since 2002, when it occurred on September 20, India Meteorological Department (IMD) data showed. Last year too, Delhi witnessed an early retreat, on September 24.
The withdrawal takes place, even as a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal continues to move westwards and should impact Andhra Pradesh and Odisha with intense showers locally. State wise data shows the deficit is however alarming in large parts of the country – particularly in northwest India, northeast and southern India. This year, withdrawal from west Rajasthan commenced two days late, on September 19 as opposed to the normal date of September 17. The all-India monsoon rainfall stood at a 15% deficit as on September 22, with the country having received 706.9mm – against a normal of 832.4mm for the period June 1-September 22. Overall, for the Union territory as a whole, Delhi received an average of 562.7mm since June 1 – 6% higher than the normal of 532.3mm. If only Safdarjung was considered – Delhi’s base station for weather, it has logged 728.6mm in monsoon rainfall since June 1 – an excess of nearly 14% over the normal of 640.4mm. It stood at -40% for Punjab till September 22. It was -24% for Haryana and -21% in Rajasthan. Across east and northeast India, the states impacted by a poor monsoon, include Bihar (-37%), Assam (-26%), Arunachal Pradesh (-42%), Manipur (-43%) and it was a large-deficient of -60% in Meghalaya. In southern India, key states impacted include Karnataka (-30%), Telangana (-21%), Andhra Pradesh (-38%) and Kerala (-27%).
“The southwest monsoon has further withdrawn from most parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, entire Delhi, some parts of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat today – the 23rd September, 2026,” the IMD said in a statement on Tuesday.
