Climate Change and Rainfall Variability in Tamil Nadu – Trends, Seasonal Variability, Rainfall Anomalies (1990 – 2024)

S Smirthi Rajya; Merlin Juliet Arul Thangam

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i04.84565

Climate Change and Rainfall Variability in Tamil Nadu – Trends, Seasonal Variability, Rainfall Anomalies (1990 – 2024)

Author(s)	Ms. S Smirthi Rajya, Dr. Merlin Juliet Arul Thangam
Country	India
Abstract	Climate change is one of the critical environmental challenges in this twenty first century, profoundly altering the precipitation regimes, rising temperatures and erratic rainfalls. Tamil Nadu, predominantly an agrarian state with a unique dependence of both Southwest monsoon and the Northeast monsoon, is highly vulnerable to the changes in the rainfall patterns. Understanding these temporal behaviors and seasonal variability of rainfall is crucial for ensuring constant agriculture production and effective water resource management for the state. This study focuses on the trends and variability of seasonal and annual rainfall in the state of Tamil Nadu for the period of 35 years (1990-91 to 2024 -25), using the secondary data from the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Tamil Nadu. Descriptive statistics, Rainfall anomaly analysis, seasonal and decadal comparison analysis were conducted to evaluate the rainfall patterns across the Southwest monsoon, Northeast monsoon, Hot and Winter seasons respectively. This analysis revealed that there was a gradual increase in the annual rainfall, accompanied by a strong inter – annual variability in the rainfall pattern of the state. A modest increase in the southwest monsoon, an erratic yet intense Northeast monsoon, increased occurrence of off-season rainfall indicated the impact of climate change in the state. The finding identified that the changing rainfall regime has an effective impact on the agricultural activities, ground water recharge and water and disaster management. Thus, this study underscores the urgent need for adaptation and mitigation strategies on these sectors and also highlights the need for further more regional specific research in this area for better planning for the sustainable future.
Keywords	Climate change, Rainfall Patterns, Tamil Nadu, Southwest monsoon, Northeast Monsoon, Rainfall Variability, Climate adaptation.
Field	Sociology > Economics
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 4, July-August 2026
Published On	2026-07-26
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i04.84565

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Climate Change and Rainfall Variability in Tamil Nadu – Trends, Seasonal Variability, Rainfall Anomalies (1990 – 2024)

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