Data from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University’s Agro Climatic Research Centre shows that as against the South West Monsoon season’s 30-year average of 210 mm, Coimbatore this year had got 288 mm. This was spread over 16 rainy days.
According to the centre’s classification, a day that receives more than 2.50 mm rain is counted as rainy day.
The centre said that of the 288 mm the district received, most of it was in September, as it had always been the case. The district received 17 mm spread over two rainy days in June, 28 mm spread over three rainy days in July, 38 mm spread over four rainy days in August and 205 mm spread over seven rainy days in September thus far.
That the rain was spread over more days was also good in that if the district had recorded rain in fewer days it would have meant that intense rain and more run off water, which was not considered good rain for agriculture purposes.
The centre’s initial prediction for the North East Monsoon was good. The season extends from October to December with the average rainfall being 310 mm spread over 27 days.
The district’s average rainfall for a year is 674 mm.
