November breaks record for 'heavy', 'very heavy' rainfall

As per the IMD, "heavy" rainfall is between 64.5 to 115.5 mm while "very heavy" rainfall means 115.6 to 204.5 mm.

As many as 11 stations recorded "extremely heavy" rainfall (more than 204.5 mm), same as that in 2020, India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General, Dr Mrutyunjay Mahapatra told a media conference.

In November, the country, as a whole, received 56.5 mm rainfall as against 30.5 mm (a departure of 85.4 per cent) and the maximum departure of 160 per cent was in the south peninsula which received 232.7 mm rains against the 89.5 mm normal.

Further, the IMD has predicted that the monthly rainfall for December 2021 over the south peninsular India is most likely to be above normal (over 132 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA)). The LPA of rainfall over south peninsular India during December based on the data of 1961-2010 is about 44.54 mm.

"While most of India gets rains mainly during southwest monsoon season, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalseema, and parts of Karnataka receive major rains from the northeast monsoon, which is active right now. Plus, there have been continuous low pressure areas pouring in rains over almost the entire November leading to loss of lives and damage to property," he said.

Apart from the extremely heavy rainfall recorded at 11 stations in 2020, there were 98 stations that recorded very heavy rains and heavy rains was 247 the same year. In 2019, 116 stations recorded heavy rainfall, 24 recorded very heavy rainfall, and none recorded extremely heavy rainfall.

Year 2018 saw 135 stations record heavy rainfall, 36 witnessed very heavy rainfall while just four stations recorded extremely heavy rainfall. In 2017, the respective numbers were 139, 26 and just 1, respectively, IMD data showed.

The post-SW monsoon rains (from October 1 till November 30) for the country as a whole was recorded at 157.2 mm as against 106.4 mm (a departure of 48 per cent). Of this, northwest India showed maximum departure (107.0 per cent) with 72.2 mm rains as against 34.9 mm normal.