The Indian subcontinent has been geographically divided into four sub-divisions namely- Northwest India, East and Northeast India, Central India and South Peninsula. If we take all four regions into account, the Pan India rain performance for the month of January, stands at marginal deficiency of 4% (with East- Northeast and Central India being highly deficient whereas Northwest and South India performing in excess).
If we take the interesting case of South Peninsula into account, the region consists of Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep. While it has Arabian Sea on one coast, its surrounded by Bay of Bengal on the other.
A large variability has been observed in the rain figures for January in Southern Peninsula even in the contiguous pockets. While the oceanic area of Andaman and Nicobar Islands have recorded big surplus of 224%, Lakshadweep islands on the other hand have recorded no rains at all. Telangana and Rayalaseema recorded rains in excess, however, Karnataka performed very poor with Coastal Karnataka observing no rains at all, North Interior Karnataka stood at a rain deficiency of -39% and North Interior Karnataka at -49%.
Cumulative data over the years has a different story to tell- the eastern part of Peninsular India usually performs much better than the Western half. However, this time, the numbers are mixed and rains in all shades were observed. A large excess has been recorded over Telangana and Rayalaseema, whereas Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are largely deficient. While, out of eight, four areas have performed pretty good, the other four areas remained poor.
All the rains for South Peninsula in the month of January are brought about by Weather Systems (either Cyclonic Circulation, Trough or Easterly Waves) moving from East towards West. The month, however, presents very grim chances for the formation of such systems. This time as well, any such weather systems have been far and few for the region.
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