Adios humid weather in Pakistan soon as monsoon starts delayed retreat from India

Temperatures have already dropped after recent rains in the country

MUMBAI/LAHORE (Reuters/Web Desk) – You can now surely say goodbye to the hot and humid weather in the coming days as monsoon rains started withdrawing from the northwest of India on Monday, more than a week later than normal, the state-run India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement. 

The withdrawal from Pakistan in the coming days would mean absence of monsoon currents from the Arabian Sea or the Bay of Bengal, translating into low humidity, as a drop in temperatures with less or no humid conditions are already visible after recent rains in the upper and central parts of the country.

The monsoon, the lifeblood of India's $3 trillion economy, delivers nearly 70 per cent of the rain needed to water its farms and recharge reservoirs and aquifers. 

The monsoon generally begins in June and starts to retreat by Sept 17 but rains continued this year, helping to reduce a precipitation deficit after the driest August in more than a century hit some summer crops. 

Monsoon rains in India were 9pc below average in June before rebounding to 13pc above average in July. The weather office then registered 36pc below average rains last month. 

Monsoon rains so far in September are 17pc above average, according to IMD.

"The southwest monsoon has withdrawn from some parts of Rajasthan. Conditions are favourable for the withdrawal of the monsoon from more northern states in the next one week," a senior IMD official said.