• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Vinson Kurian

Thiruvananthapuram, March 10

The whole of Tamil Nadu and many parts of adjoining Kerala have been placed high on the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast’s (ECMWF) Extreme Forecast Index with respect to expected precipitation during a 10-day period ending March 20.

This will juxtapose itself with a string of western disturbance-triggered showers wetting parts of northwest and central India. Medium range forecasts indicate a fresh western disturbance rolling into the northwest around March 17 as well. Isolated to scattered showers could hang on here until March 26, according to the US National Centres for Environmental Prediction (NCEP).

Escalating rain events with intervening ‘dry’ phases in the southern peninsula is a precursor to what could unfold in due course, even leading up to the onset of the southwest monsoon. India Met Department (IMD) said on Monday that isolated rain/thundershowers are likely over Tamil Nadu and Kerala during the next two days and would intensify thereafter.

Updated February outlook by the ECMWF have stuck to earlier predictions of an above-normal monsoon for India during the impending season. Rains have been forecast to build along the east and west coasts from April-May-June.

These will hitch a ride on the peaking La Nina, which, according to the International Research Institute (IRI) for Climate Prediction at Columbia University, should last until the northern hemisphere autumn.

Some other models tend to suggest a still longer life for the equatorial Pacific phenomenon, despite a nascent warming trend building along the South American coast.

The NCEP outlook on precipitation levels in the southern peninsula estimates that up to 60 per cent above the weekly normal of rains could fall over the Tamil Nadu coast during the week ending March 17. Western parts of Sri Lanka and most parts of Kerala too, would be impacted in this manner.

The rains, though less entrenched, would sustain in the south peninsula until May 26, according to the NCEP. .

More Stories on : Climate & Weather

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Extreme rain events may unfold over peninsula

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line