Across the 34 years of record to 2024, the monsoon's first sustained rain reaches Varanasi around 18 June on average. That is an average, not a forecast for this year.
In half of those years it arrived between 13 June and 22 June. That 9-day window is the number worth planning around. Varanasi is one of the more dependable places in this respect — the date moves, but not far.
Common questions about the monsoon in Varanasi
When will the monsoon reach Varanasi?
Around 18 June on average, and between 13 June and 22 June in half of years. The exact date in any single year cannot be known in advance; the window can.
When does it rain in Varanasi?
88% of the 992 mm this city receives in a year falls between June and September. July is the wettest month — 291 mm across about 24 days of rain.
How long does the monsoon last in Varanasi?
About 118 days, with withdrawal around 15 October.
What changes when it arrives
The clearest change is heat. May averages a daily maximum of 39.7°C; by July that has fallen 7.2°C. Rain days rise too: roughly 80 days of rain across June to September.
The last 12 years
This is Varanasi's own record, not a regional average.
| Year | Monsoon onset | Withdrawal | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 15 June | 23 October | 130 |
| 2014 | 30 June | 23 October | 115 |
| 2015 | 22 June | 7 November | 138 |
| 2016 | 19 June | 17 October | 120 |
| 2017 | 18 June | 8 October | 112 |
| 2018 | 23 June | 16 September | 85 |
| 2019 | 19 June | 12 October | 115 |
| 2020 | 3 June | 3 October | 122 |
| 2021 | 16 May † | 26 October | 163 |
| 2022 | 20 June | 16 October | 118 |
| 2023 | 20 June | 9 December | 172 |
| 2024 | 17 June | 7 October | 112 |
† The 2021 date is the earliest in this record and stands well apart from every other year here. It is what the rule produced; nothing independent confirms it.
Where these numbers come from
Source: Open-Meteo's historical weather archive, whose default model blends ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis with ECMWF IFS HRES from 2017 — 1991-2024 (34 years). Open-Meteo offers no rainfall from ERA5-Land, so the rain figures come from ERA5 and IFS. Temperatures are monthly averages of daily highs and lows; rainfall is the average monthly total. A grid estimate can differ from a local weather station. The grid point used for Varanasi sits about 3 km from the city. Onset dates are worked out from the same source's daily rainfall.
This record was derived with an earlier version of our onset rule: the first day on or after 1 May on which the five days starting that day bring at least 20 mm of rain and the ten days after those bring at least 30 mm. Records derived since then add a third condition, that each of the three ten-day periods starting that day brings at least 20 mm, to screen out cyclones; it was added after an earlier version of the rule recorded cyclone Tauktae, in May 2021, as the monsoon's arrival in four cities hundreds of kilometres apart. This record does not have it, so an early date here may be a storm rather than the monsoon. Withdrawal is the last day of the last ten-day period, starting between 1 June and 30 November, that brings at least 20 mm.