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Heavy to very heavy rain poured down over many parts of the South Peninsula during through Wednesday to Thursday morning with Tamil Nadu being the major beneficiary, followed by Kerala, Coastal and South Interior Karnataka and Rayalaseema.
Going forward, scattered to fairly widespread rainfall has been forecast over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala during the next four days while it would be isolated to scattered over Coastal and South Interior Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Lone cyclonic circulation
Meanwhile, on Wednesday-Thursday, the proceedings were mainly anchored by a lone cyclonic circulation parked over the Gulf of Mannar (off South-East Tamil Nadu) and Sri Lanka jointly with a trough of low (a narrow corridor of low pressure) connecting the Comorin-Maldives area with the Karnataka coast.
Short to medium guidance from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) indicated the formation of circulation in next few days over extreme South-East Bay of Bengal (off Indonesia) and its movement towards the Sri Lankan and Kanyakumari.
More may be in the offing
These settings are vaguely similar to those three years ago when a weather system traversing the same track earned spurs all on a sudden and re-curved to North to cut an as-yet unchartered path and become the very severe cyclone Ockhi that ravaged the Lakshadweep and Kerala coasts.
But forecasts indicate no such development in the instant case with the circulation evading the land features and drifting safely out into the distance to weaken. But it would likely have pushed another wave of easterlies to trigger a likely low-pressure area in the Bay in next ten days.
Heavy rain in Tamil Nadu
Areas which recorded heavy to very rainfall (above 5 cm) until Thursday morning included (in Tamil Nadu): Dharapuram-17; Pilavakkal-16; Mulanur-13; Odanchatram-12; Usilampatti-11; Watrap, Coonoor and Gobichettipalayam- 9 each; Alandur-8; Rajapalayam, DGP Office (Chennai), Ettayapuram, Bodinaickanur, and Theni-7 each; Mettupalayam, Kangeyam, Tiruppur, Anna University (Chennai), and Avinasi-6 each; and Veerapandi, Aranmanaipudur, Kayathar, Coonoor, Virudhunagar, Aravakurichi, Vadipatti, MGR Nagar, and Uttamapalayam-5 each.
In Kerala, they are Myladumpara-6 cm; CIAL Kochi and Vellanikkara -5 each. In Andhra Pradesh, they are Srungavarapukota – 9; Tanuku-6, and Balajipeta-5. In Karnataka, only Dharmasthala recorded any significant rainfall measured at 3 cm during this period.
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