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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An upper air `cycer', traced to the Kanyakumari skyline late on Wednesday evening, brought welcome showers to the capital city after an unusually hot spell raised mercury levels in the drought-prone interiors of the district.

According to Mr M.D. Ramachandran, Director, Met Office, Thiruvananthapuram, the current wet spell, accompanied by thunder and lightning, could sustain itself late into the night and possibly extend to Thursday. The thunder activity reminded the city of the impending northeast monsoon, but Mr Ramachandran said the predecessor southwest monsoon had not yet withdrawn fully from the peninsula to make way for the `monsoon in reverse'.

The normal date of onset of northeast monsoon is around October 20, which is still some days off. With the southwest monsoon having failed, Thiruvananthapuram city, much like the entire State, is eagerly looking to the northeast monsoon to fill up the rivers, rivulets and water barrages. The Neyyar river, flowing through the interior and a major geographic feature, has completely dried up, except for lengthy puddles of water, and this has cut off supply of badly needed irrigation water to interior Thiruvananthapuram.

The capital city gets its drinking water supplies from the Aruvikkara and Peppara dams on the outskirts. Though heavily silted, the storage position in the dams is enough to sustain the supplies for another month, by when the northeast monsoon is expected to set in.

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`Cycer' brings showers in Thiruvananthapuram

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