Interior TN hopes for rain from weekend

An existing low-pressure area has intensified a round to become well-marked over South-West Bay of Bengal to south-east of Tamil Nadu to bring heavy showers to North Coastal Tamil Nadu, including Chennai.

The system is apparently on a slow burn, and would take time to move north along the Tamil Nadu coast, sending rain bands as far away to the north-northeast as the South Andhra Pradesh coast and Odisha coasts.

The heaviest of the rains fall to the northern flanks of the ‘low’ even as it keeps moving in that direction. The India Met Department (IMD) has forecast that heavy rains would continue to lash the Tamil Nadu and Andhra coasts for a couple of days more.

The rains have so far favoured the coastal districts. Many interior districts of the State are still waiting for their due share, triggering some concern from the farming heartland.

N Lakshmanan, a plantation owner in the Nilgiris, told BusinessLine, voiced the issues the region is faced with. The month of November has been a total disappointment in terms of rainfall recorded.

The normal for the month is approximately 17 inches (43 cm) but the recorded rainfall amounts to no more than five inches (13 cm).

While the days are sunny and hot, the evenings/nights are getting unusually cold. Lack of clouds have resulted in clear skies, which are typical of a cool and dry winter.

Clouds associated with rains would not have allowed the solar radiation received during the day to escape, keeping the surface warm.

The ongoing spell of rainfall from the well-marked ‘low’ could make some difference to the scenario with global models and the IMD seeing scope for some rains over interior Tamil Nadu.

This is expected to happen from this weekend, and could become more spread into the next, as per these forecasts.

This would come about with the amplification of a circulation over Coastal Karnataka by the easterly winds.