A couple of weeks back we had done Southwest Monsoon – The story so far comparing the district rainfall numbers nationally. One of the common feedback received was the need for a similar exercise with Tamil Nadu in particular. Keeping this in mind and the way the rains have panned out during the first 10 days of July we put out the Southwest Monsoon the story so far with specific reference to Tamil Nadu.
During June Southwest Monsoon got off to a very good start as far as Tamil Nadu goes but as days passed by the rainfall started slowing down which is reflecting in the table now. Some of the highlights so far
- On June 30th only 7 districts were either Deficit or Scanty which has now gone up to 12 districts after the 11 days of July.
- If one were to flip around the numbers a little bit ignoring the IMD classification for a moment 10 districts in the negative on 30th June which has now gone up to 19 districts
- Between 30th June & 11th July only two districts, Coimbatore & Teni, have got higher than normal rainfall for these 11 days with all other districts recording lesser than normal rainfall
- While Tuticorin is the only district that has an average rainfall of less than 5 mm during the first part of July a total of 18 districts in the state has received less than 5 mm for the first 11 days of July indicating the poor July so far for us. Of this 18 districts eleven of them have received 1 mm or lower with 7 districts receiving no rainfall
- The districts with highest rainfall confirm how being the right side of Western Ghats provides for better rainfall prospects with the Top 3 districts having Western Ghats play a crucial role
- Kanyakumari is the district that has received the highest rainfall so far followed by Nilgiris & Coimbatore though the Coimbatore numbers are skewed by the heavy rainfall Valparai received while the plains pretty much get only winds during this time of the year.
While Kanyakumari records the highest rainfall in the state neighboring districts like Tuticorin, Ramanathapuram etc have not even recorded even 5% of the rainfall recorded by Kanyakumari district indicating how the windward and leeward side drastically vary in Tamil Nadu. Incidentally the districts that have recorded poor rains so far have not fared well in July either.
