Till now, August 18, the state has received 153.2 mm of rainfall against the normal of 154.7 mm.
Just like the previous year, even this season Tamil Nadu witnessed large variations in Monsoon rains. Southwest Monsoon arrives in Tamil Nadu during the initial phase of the Monsoon season. In the month of June the country received 16% surplus rainfall and the state received 36% more rainfall than the normal average.
This excess rain got consumed by the middle of July itself and the state went on to record deficit rains to the tune of 9%. The rainfall deficiency rose to 15% by July 21. With some good showers during the last few days of July, rainfall deficiency came down to 7%. First few days of August has seen some good rains as well, bringing down the deficiency in Tamil Nadu to 5%. With subdued rainfall thereafter, the Monsoon rain deficiency rose to 15% by August 15.
On August 16, Tamil Nadu received three times more rainfall than the average for the day. Accordingly to the rainfall data available with Skymet, the state recorded 10.7 mm of rain against the normal of 2.7 mm for the day. Rains continued the next day as well and the state witnessed five times more Monsoon rains than the normal average.
Last two days of heavy rainfall brought down the rainfall deficiency to 1% and more rains are in the offing. All thanks to a cyclonic circulation over extreme southern parts of the Peninsula and adjoining Arabian Sea. A trough can be seen extending from this system across interiors of Tamil Nadu, South Interior Karnataka and Rayalaseema. Scattered good rains are likely over this region including Kerala.
Image credit - Hindu