Previous Year Question

Chennai is located on the south-eastern coast of India in Tamil Nadu. During the South-West Monsoon, its position under the rain-shadow influence of the Western Ghats and its relatively unfavourable orientation to the south-westerly monsoon winds result in much lower rainfall than on the western coast.

The most important climatic fact about Chennai is that it receives the major share of its rainfall from the North-East Monsoon (October–December) rather than from the South-West Monsoon.

The normal South-West Monsoon rainfall (June–September) of Chennai is about 410.3 mm, accounting for approximately 32.3% of its annual rainfall. In contrast, it receives about 771.2 mm, or nearly 60.9% of its annual rainfall, during the North-East Monsoon.

Among the other options, Mangalore lies on the windward side of the Western Ghats facing the Arabian Sea branch and therefore receives extremely heavy rainfall. Its normal June–September rainfall is around 3,625 mm.

Kolkata also receives substantial rainfall from the Bay of Bengal branch of the South-West Monsoon. The sum of its climatological normals for June–September is about 1,345 mm.

Delhi also receives more South-West Monsoon rainfall than Chennai. Current climatological normals for Delhi (Safdarjung) give approximately 631 mm of normal rainfall during June–September.