Withdrawal of the Monsoon

The change from a summer to winter type of circulation with the retreat of the sun to the south of the equator is of shorter duration than the reversal from winter to summer. It is much more gradual than the abrupt changes associated with the onset of the summer monsoon. The monsoon begins to withdraw from northern India around mid-September. By end of October, it has usually withdrawn from the region north of 15º N, and from Cherrapunjee, Bangladesh and Burma. Finally it withdraws from the extreme south of the Indian peninsula and Sri Lanka by December.


About the time of the monsoon’s withdrawal, the subtropical westerly jet stream again reappears over the northwestern end of the Himalayas. Thereafter, it moves southwards to its usual location south of the Himalayas by the end of October. The easterly jet, which was a feature of the onset, disappears rapidly after the recession of the monsoon by early October. Many features that were associated with the onset of the monsoon now disappear, as the winter Asian monsoon begins to set in over southern India towards December.

Acknowledgement:

The narration of the monsoon dynamics here in this website has relied heavily on the book ‘The Monsoons’ by Dr. P.K. Das an authority on the monsoons. We recommend to any interested person to acquire a copy of this book, which is published by National Book Trust, India and is priced only Rs.75/=. You can place your orders to the Director, National Book Trust, A-5, Green Park, New Delhi – 110 016. The growing interest in ‘The Indian Summer Monsoon’ and Cherrapunjee from across the world needs to satiated with accurate, up-to-date information. It is the endeavor of Cherrapunjee Holiday Resort to collect, compile and present relevant information in lay man’s language so that more and more common people will be able to appreciate the amazing monsoon weather dynamics.