Unusual & Rare!! After a prolonged season, NE monsoon finally retreats or withdraws now!!
Long wait is over now!!
It has been nearly 100 days since the onset of NE monsoon in Tamil Nadu. On Monday, 27th January, NE monsoon finally withdrew or retreated from TN. This has caught the attention now. It is noteworthy that this is one of the rare years when the monsoon has prolonged till the end of January. In TN in this January, NE monsoon was responsible for copious rainfall. On Monday, RMC in Chennai announced that the NE monsoon had ceased over the southern peninsular region.
Point is that around 15th of October 2024, NE monsoon had set in Tamil Nadu and it was an unusually prolonged season spilling over to January also. From the middle of October till December, the state of TN received nearly 58.9cm of rainfall against its average share of 44.3cm. In this season, back to back weather systems led to widespread rains in TN.
Recurring minor weather systems over TN led to prolonged NE monsoon beyond its usual timeline. This was according to Mr. P. Senthamarai Kannan, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, RMC, Chennai. He spoke about how the season was interspersed with gaps in rainfall and how the monsoons were kept active by the movement of the weather systems.
In 2022, in TN, there was a delayed withdrawal of NE monsoon after mid January on 22nd January. It is known that normally every year the withdrawal of NE monsoon would take place between 26th December and 30th December. As per some officials, the NE monsoon season has a standard deviation of 13 to 14 days. Previously, in TN delayed monsoon withdrawal was witnessed in 1933-34 on 28th January.
According to the former deputy director general of meteorology, Chennai Mr. Y.E.A. Raj NE monsoon spilling into the period of 21st to 31st January is rare.
