CHENNAI: Chennai on Wednesday woke up to a pleasant weather and the conditions were typical of a monsoon day. With chill in the air, the maximum temperature has plummeted six degrees below normal. However, the much needed rainfall has, once again, eluded the city.
Tuesday’s well-marked low pressure over the southwest Bay of Bengal adjoining northeast Sri Lanka had moved closer to the Tamil Nadu coast, but failed to intensify into a depression as anticipated by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). The radar images on Wednesday morning showed massive cloud mass parked outside Chennai and neighbourhood, raising hope of heavy downpour, but it did not move into land, dumping all the rain offshore in the sea.
This year’s northeast monsoon has been very indifferent, especially towards northern districts of Tamil Nadu. A whopping nine districts are currently staring at over 50 per cent deficit rainfall. Except for Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Tiruvarur, Ramanathapuram, and Nagapattinam, which were bombarded with cyclone Gaja, all other districts are facing deficit rainfall. As a whole, Tamil Nadu is facing a deficit of 19 per cent.
Can there be a turnaround? The weather models such as European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) and Global Forecast System (GFS) are predicting no big rain event till December second week, which means the hope of monsoon revival is slowly fading away. “Chennai with 60 per cent deficit will not be able to bridge the gap,” said weather blogger Pradeep John.
S Balachandran, Deputy Director General, Regional Meteorological Centre, said Chennai would receive moderate rainfall for next two days. “City will be generally cloudy with moderate rainfall. Other parts of Tamil Nadu would also experience similar weather owing to well-marked low pressure area over the southwest Bay of Bengal. Under its influence, fairly widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy showers is likely over Tamil Nadu and Puducherry during the next two days. The rainfall activity will decrease from November 24,” he said. The Nungambakkam weather station in Chennai recorded 27 mm rainfall on Wednesday. Several suburbs such as Tambaram, Oragadam belt, ECR, OMR, Mahabalipuram and Kalpakkam got good rainfall. Karaikal and Tarangambadi in Nagapattinam received highest rainfall of 7 cm in the last 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Wednesday.
Schools to remain closed
Chennai: All schools in Chennai will remain closed on Thursday anticipating heavy rain, according to a collectorate official. University of Madras also has announced that all exams scheduled for Thursday will be held later.
Winds damage National flag
Chennai: The National flag fluttering atop Fort St George was partially damaged due to strong winds on Wednesday. The flag was replaced by Corps of Military Police of Army.
