The Northeast monsoon brings significant rainfall to coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

A well-marked low pressure area lying over central and adjoining south Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a depression by Wednesday. This is expected to be the last weather system of the season, as the Southwest monsoon withdraws. Once it moves towards north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coast, the stage would be set for the arrival of the Northeast.

“We expect the northeasterly winds to set in by October 22 or October 23. This would make conditions favourable for the onset of monsoon. While the onset may be delayed by a couple of days, we expect normal rainfall over the entire region,” according to S.B. Thampi, Deputy Director-General of Meteorology, Chennai.

Tamil Nadu receives nearly 44 cm of rain during the Northeast monsoon.

Bloggers also point out that the delta and north coastal districts may end up with 80 % of rainfall of the usual quota during Northeast monsoon. A few districts like Karaikal, Nagapattinam and Nilgiris may fail to reach their average annual rainfall.