India, Oct. 25 -- The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on October 16 announced the onset of the northeast monsoon, bringing increased rainfall to peninsular India, particularly along the east coast, as winds turned easterly to northeasterly over the region.

Since then, the region under its influence has received more than twice the rainfall it normally gets, an HT analysis of IMD's gridded data shows. This has made this part of October one of the wettest in peninsular India in the past 125 years. However, the analysis also indicates that the large surplus has not necessarily translated into an overall excess for the month. In fact, IMD's long-range forecasts suggest that this surplus may be partly offset in the coming weeks.

The no...