Light scattered rain in Tamil Nadu and Kerala

Northeast monsoon has entered its last leg as one can witness the intensity and spread of rain decreasing throughout peninsular India. In last 24 hours from 8.30 am on Tuesday Coonoor in Tamil Nadu has received 15.9 mm of rain. Other places in the state to have received rain are Dharmapuri 3 mm, Kanyakumari 3.4 mm, Kodaikanal 1 mm, Madurai 1 mm, Palayankottai 2 mm, Tiruchirapalli 2.1 mm and Tondi 2.1 mm.

In Kerala, Alapuzha received a miniscule 0.8 mm of rain, while Thiruvananthapuram was drier with traces of rain. Nellore in Andhra Pradesh also received only 0.2 mm of rain. The light scattered rains clearly indicate that the Northeast Monsoon is on the verge of ending.

October has been the only month when some good amounts of rain had been recorded in Tamil Nadu, which receives its bulk of rain during the Northeast Monsoon season. November has been poor, so is December.

This can be understood from the fact that Chennai received only 176 mm of rain in November against the monthly average of 407 mm, which is over 50% short. In December too Chennai has received only 79 mm of rain so far against the monthly average of 191 mm.

So we can say that the overall performance of the Northeast Monsoon has been below average this season.