The southwest monsoon's withdrawal line passed through Gurdaspur, Chandigarh, Muzaffarnagar, Aligarh, Dholpur, Udaipur, Deesa and Naliya on Monday, the India Meteorological Department said. The retreat now covers Punjab, Chandigarh-Haryana-Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

A leftover low-pressure area over east Uttar Pradesh, the remnant of an earlier deep depression, has weakened as the withdrawal sped up across northern India. The IMD expects south-westerly winds over the Arabian Sea to give way to easterlies around Oct 7, opening the door to fresh rain and thunderstorms across peninsular India from mid-week.

Isolated heavy rain is forecast for Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal for three days, South Interior Karnataka for four days, and Kerala and Mahe for four days from Wednesday. Thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds are expected with the transition across several southern states.

Rain is expected to turn fairly widespread to widespread over Kerala and Mahe for three days from Thursday and over Coastal Karnataka for five days from Tuesday. Separately, the IMD expects fairly widespread rain over Uttarakhand on Sept 28, with isolated very heavy rain over West UP and heavy rain over East UP and Himachal Pradesh.