The Northeast Monsoon, also known as the winter monsoon, covers a smaller geographical area spanning southern India and lasts from October to December. (Representational/File) The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday declared the cessation of Northeast Monsoon rainfall from southern peninsular India.
The Northeast Monsoon, also known as the winter monsoon, covers a smaller geographical area spanning southern India and lasts from October to December. Rainfall during these winter months is crucial, especially for Tamil Nadu, which receives nearly 48 per cent of its annual rainfall during these three months. Besides, Northeast Monsoon rainfall is received over Kerala, Mahe, Puducherry, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema and south interior Karnataka.
This year, in December alone, the southern states recorded 57.3mm, which was quantitatively 83 per cent above normal. Such high rainfall, IMD officials said, was caused by the severe cyclone Mandous that had crossed near Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu on December 10.
During the season (till December 31, 2022), south peninsular India recorded 296.1 mm of rain, which was 9 per cent above normal. Some of the extreme and very heavy rainfall events occurred due to Mandous. Overall, southern peninsular India recorded 80.1 mm in December and remained the 18th wettest month since 1901, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general, IMD had said at the start of this month.
Except Puducherry, where seasonal rainfall ended at minus 23 per cent below normal, all other states recorded normal or above rainfall till December 31 last year. The state-wise rainfall during these three months stood at — Karnataka (33 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (11 per cent), Tamil Nadu (1 per cent), Andaman and Nicobar islands (- 1 per cent), Kerala (-3 per cent) and Telangana ( – 4 per cent).
In fact, December 2022 recorded the second most rainfall events in the state since 2018, most of which were concentrated over northern Tamil Nadu and southern or coastal Andhra Pradesh, the IMD data suggested. Last month (December), the number of very heavy rainfall events (115.6 to 204.4mm in 24-hours) was 29, second after 2020 (43) whereas the number of extremely heavy rainfall (more than 204.5mm in 24-hours) events was 3 as against 20 events in 2020.
Overall in 2022, India reported 338 extremely heavy and 2,063 very heavy rainfall events, said IMD officials.