Overall Northeast Monsoon to be Normal

Visakhapatnam: National Weather Service has predicted that the northeast monsoon this year will be normal. The monsoon is forecast to be 88 per cent to 112 per cent of long period average (LPA) for the three-month-long season from October to December.

The season has, however, not had a promising start. All sub-divisions of southern peninsula other than Kerala fared poorly in October, said private weather website Skymet.

The winter monsoon started on October 21 on a dull note.

Skymet said based on data from 1970 to 2020, LPA of northeast monsoon rainfall for south peninsular India is 334.13 mm. The five sub-divisions put together have received about 30 per cent of the annual rainfall during this season.

Northeast monsoon is the lifeline for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. This meteorological sub-division receives about 48 per cent of annual rainfall during October to December. Individual sub-divisional normal rainfall for the season is Tamil Nadu 449.6 mm, Kerala 491.6 mm, coastal Andhra Pradesh 338.1 mm, Rayalaseema 223.3 mm and south Interior Karnataka 204.1 mm.

The website said October month has closed on a large deficit note.  It recorded a total rainfall of 51 mm against the monthly normal of 75.4 mm. This is the lowest rainfall of October in the last five years.

Poor performance is largely attributed to the depressed start of northeast monsoon which had a timely onset on October 21.

During the last 24 hours, Lakkirerddipalli in Annamaya district received 32 mm of rain, followed by Nellore 29.6 mm and Rapur (SPSR Nellore) 21.6 mm, IMD Amaravati said.