Northeast Monsoon 2014 Summary

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A New Year, A New Beginning.

Chennayil Oru Mazhaikalam wishes all its well wishers a Happy New Year.

While Northeast Monsoon officially ended on 31st December 2014 the winds would continue to be Easterlies till about April possibly with occasional winter rains during this period.  Its time to enjoy our winter and the early morning nip.

The Northeast Monsoon 2014 was a mixed bag.  The rainfall was irregular, very heavy bursts when it occurred, with no established pattern.  Central Interior Tamil Nadu & North Tamil Nadu has received lesser than normal rainfall. South Tamil Nadu received excess rainfall.

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Some of the highlights of this season are.

  1. The period between October & December 2014 saw two Very Severe Cyclones, Hudhud which struck Vishakapatnam & Nilofar that wandered around aimlessly in Arabian Sea.
  2. Cyclone Nilofar was the strongest cyclone of the season and the strongest in Arabian Sea since Cyclone Phet in 2010
  3. Both the cyclones happened in the month of October.  There was no Deperssion or Cyclone in North Indian Ocean Basin during November & December
  4. In the last 100 years 2014 was only the fifth time when no Depressions or Cyclones happened during November & December, the previous instances were 1917, 1949, 1961 & 2006
  5. Statistically Tamil Nadu received normal rainfall overall with 430.3 mm received during 2014 NEM against long term average of 440.4 mm
  6. Tirunelveli was the district with highest positive anomaly for this year receiving almost twice of normal rainfall
  7. Vellore was the district with highest negative anomaly for this year receiving almost half of normal rainfall
  8. Overall 15 districts received lesser than 90% of long term average with 9 districts receiving lesser than 80% of long term average
  9. Overall 7 districts received more than 110% of long term average with 5 districts receiving more than 120% of long term average
  10. Overall 19 districts received lesser than long term average this NEM season.

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