South India records over 60 per cent surplus rain during NE monsoon

The country recorded a significantly wet northeast monsoon with over 44 per cent surplus rainfall between October and December, with south Indian states recording over 60 per cent surplus rainfall, the Indian Meterological Department (IMD) said.

During the last three months, the country’s rainfall stood at 177.7mm as against a normal of 123.8mm. Last year, it was 124.6mm for the same time period.

The state-wise positive rainfall departures for south Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh were 109 per cent, 104 per cent, 59 per cent and 40 per cent respectively, the IMD said.

The IMD identifies the period between October and December as the northeast monsoon season. In recent years, the northeast monsoon onset and withdrawal are both delayed and are realised by the end of October and mid-January, respectively.

Even though the winter monsoon is still active — with Chennai and coastal Tamil Nadu, Karaikal and Puducherry set to witness a wet start to the new year, the department said.

Since its onset on October 27, the northeast monsoon remained consistently active with consecutive low pressure systems and depressions developing in the Bay of Bengal, the IMD said. As a result, steady and widespread rains were reported across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, south interior Karnataka, Puducherry and coastal Andhra Pradesh which continued till early December. Cyclone Jawad also contributed to the excess rain this year.

Chennai, which recorded 149mm since Thursday, ended among the wettest cities in 2021. The Tamil Nadu capital recorded a total of 211mm last year, that was 47per cent surplus.

Similarly, the annual rainfall was surplus over Kanyakumari (110 per cent), Hyderabad (99 per cent), Rajkot (83 per cent), Delhi (81 per cent), Thiruvananthapuram (55 per cent), Bengaluru (47 per cent), Madurai (40 per cent), Aurangabad and Kolkata (37 per cent), Panjim (34 per cent), Mumbai (23 per cent) and Mahabaleshwar (21 per cent) and Pune (12 per cent), according to IMD.