A farmer shows his dried-up paddy field at Nunna near Vijayawada on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: G.N. Rao
Andhra Pradesh saw rain on only 46 of the 122 days of the Southwest Monsoon this year against the usual 75 to 90, and only one of them brought very heavy rain.
The monsoon is set to withdraw from the entire country by October 15. According to information collated by the A.P. State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA), the season’s only “very heavy rain day”, when a station records rainfall in the range of 115.6 mm to 204.4 mm, was recorded in Visakhapatnam district.
There were 20 “heavy rain” days, with rainfall in the range of 64.5 mm to 115.5 mm, most of which were recorded in northern A.P. The highest of three “heavy rain” days was recorded in Alluri Sitharama Raju district, and the districts of Srikakulam, Polavaram, Kakinada, East Godavari and Eluru recorded two “heavy rain” days each during the monsoon.
The entire region of Rayalaseema, comprising eight districts, and the districts of SPSR Nellore, Prakasam, Markapuram, Bapatla, Palnadu and Guntur did not record even one heavy rain day this season.
According to weather experts, the districts usually experience anywhere between 75 and 90 rainy days during the season. This year, the northern and central parts recorded between 40 and 54 rainy days, and Rayalaseema recorded anywhere between 11 and 30. The lowest of 11 rainy days was recorded in Annamayya district, followed by Sri Sathya Sai with 17 days and Anantapur district with 20 days during the past four months.
Polavaram and ASR districts recorded the highest of 54 rainy days during this period, Vizianagaram recorded 48 rainy days, and Parvathipuram Manyam and NTR districts recorded 46 days. Visakhapatnam district recorded 31 rainy days, the least among its neighbours, but its deficit was covered after it witnessed an intense downpour last month.
Explaining the numbers, a weather expert said when one or more mandals receive rainfall of more than 2.5 mm, it is taken as the district’s average and considered a rainy day. But NTR district’s 46 rainy days, for example, do not mean that every mandal in the district received rain, experts said.
“This time, there has been uneven distribution of rainfall across the State and also within a district. A rainy day is considered when one mandal or even a village experiences rainfall of more than 2.5 mm,” a weather expert said.
When the monsoon ended in the State on September 30, the deficit stood at 35.4%. After last week, when very heavy rainfall triggered by the deep depression over the Bay of Bengal brought down deficits in coastal districts, the figure is gradually on the rise once again.
Between June 1 and October 1, Annamayya and Prakasam districts recorded large deficient rainfall, with 62.6% and 60.4% deficits respectively.
The IMD has forecast below-normal rainfall and higher maximum and minimum temperatures for the State this October.
Published – October 02, 2026 10:26 am IST
