Sixty five per cent of Tamil Nadu will be receiving normal rainfall during the South West Monsoon season 2017, according to Agro Climate Research Centre in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University here.

Normal rainfall is expected in Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, and Nilgiris districts, a forecast from the Center on the seasonal rainfall,said.

Chennai, Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Dindigul, Erode, Kancheepuram, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Perambalur, Pudukottai, Sivagangai, Theni, Tiruvallur, Tiruvannamalai, Villupurum and Vellore districts are also expected to receive normal rainfall during the monsoon period.

Deficit rainfall is expected in Nagapattinam, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli, Tutucorin, Tiruppur, Karur, Virudhunagar, Trichy, Thanjavur, Ariyalur and Tiruvarur.

Advising to follow normal cropping pattern with existing agro-technologies along with weather based agro advisories
in normal rainfall districts, it asked. The deficit rainfall forecast districts, to use the forecast for making strategic agricultural farming decisions to raise short duration less water requiring crops with the available irrigation facilities.

Tamil Nadu is a rain shadow area to South West Monsoon and nearly 32 per cent of the total annual rainfall of the State is received from this monsoon and farmers of Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri Salem, The Nilgris, Kanyakumari and Western parts of Vellore and Tirunelveli are most benefited from this seasonal rainfall.

District level rainfall forecast for June to September was developed based on Southern Oscillation Index of summer season and Sea Surface Temperature values of east pacific ocean using Australian Rainman International V.4.3.software.

The historical rainfall data collected from the University Stations were used to represent the basis for district rainfall data set and in the absence of data from research station in a particular district, data from Rainman software were used alternatively, the release said.