CHENNAI : Rains on Wednesday and Thursday will seal the fate of Chennai. With 61 per cent deficit, the city is staring at a potential monsoon failure. The current depression in the Bay of Bengal is coming as the only hope for some redemption. November is supposed to be the wettest month for Chennai receiving an average normal rainfall of 374.4 mm rainfall. However, the city, so far, has received about 55 mm with only 10 days remaining. Firstly there was an unprecedented delay in onset of monsoon and later there were hardly any notable rainy days. It rained for hardly five days this month. As per IMD records, Chennai gets good rains on 11.5 days in November.
S Balachandran, deputy director general, regional meteorological centre, agreed that Chennai’s deficit was getting ‘ominously’ wider, but said it was too early to draw any conclusions. “Chennai is expected to get moderate to heavy rainfall on Wednesday and Thursday as the depression is forming in Bay of Bengal,” he told Express.
IMD has issued heavy rainfall warning in Kancheepuram, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai, Pudukottai, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Karaikal, Ariyalur, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur districts. Squally winds 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph is likely to prevail along and off Tamil Nadu coast. Sea condition will also be very rough.
Noted weather blogger Pradeep John said Chennai can not miss this spell. The system is moving in north-north westerly direction towards Cuddalore and is likely to intensify further. “Chennai should receive a minimum of 150 mm in next two days, otherwise we will be staring at a huge deficit. After Thursday, Chennai is likely to enter another dry spell with models showing no significant rains till month-end,” he said.
On Tuesday, city was generally cloudy and Nungambakkam weather station has recorded 6 mm of rainfall, although some suburbs have witnessed intense spells of rainfall.