With pre-monsoon showers setting in early, monsoon season began 15 days before the normal date and now continuing till the mid of October, it has clearly been the longest monsoon in Delhi this year. “Although monsoon season normally withdraws from Delhi by September end, but this year that is yet to to happen, according to Skymet, it is expected to end in Delhi within the next 24 to 48 hours," informs Mahesh Palawat, Head of the Meteorological team at Skymet Weather. So far Delhi has witnessed more than 120 rainy days in the monsoon season, which has been the longest monsoon in the city from 1941 till now. The last time the capital city saw a long monsoon season was in 1956, (withdrew on Oct 13th) when the number of rainy days were close to 111. However, the average number of rainy days during the monsoon season in Delhi is meant to be only 85. It’s not just Delhi that received plentiful showers, this year almost the entire country witnessed a good monsoon with the long period average rain till September ending at 106%. Skymet had predicted the long term average for the country to be around 103%. “A non-El Nino year has been the main reason for a longer monsoon and a fast advancement of the southwest monsoon in India, which is why it had covered the entire country a month before the original date," explains Palawat. Also, severe cyclonic storm 'Phailin' which struck coastal Orissa and Andhra Pradesh on Saturday further delayed the withdrawal of monsoon. Photo by Sify.
