Friday’s well-marked low-pressure area that swamped many areas of Tamil Nadu with heavy to very heavy rain and even extremely heavy falls weakened to conventional ‘low’ by Saturday afternoon, though without making a big impact on its rain-making capacity. The ‘low’ was located over land over North Coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry by the evening, that explained its weakening trend.
Like ‘fish out of water’
Having shifted base out of the sea, the system behaved more like a fish out of water. Its life-sustaining link with a reservoir of moisture has been compromised, and hence the weakening. India Meteorological Department (IMD) expects it to mover over interior Tamil Nadu, the ghats region and adjoining Kerala before landing into the Arabian Sea weakened as a rudimentary cyclonic circulation. The IMD has also maintained a watch for a fresh low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal in next few days.
Clouds drift apart
Satellite pictures on Saturday evening showed, however, thunderclouds having drifted apart to the North-East and South-West of Tamil Nadu. Parcels of clouds were spotted in this manner over Darsi, Kanigiri, Nellore, Gudur and Tirupathi in South Coastal Andhra Pradesh; southern parts of Chennai up to Maduranthakam and Vellore; Bengaluru, Mysuru, Madikeri, Udhagamandalam, Coimbatore, Pollachi, Valparai and Bodinayakkanur along the plains and ghats of Tamil Nadu and South Interior Karnataka; and spread out almost evenly across entire Kerala.
Heavy rainfall forecast
Isolated heavy rainfall is likely over Interior Tamil Nadu on Sunday and over Kerala and Mahe on Sunday and Monday. On Sunday, squally weather with wind with speeds of 40-45 kmph gusting to 55 kmph may prevail over Lakshadweep, the Maldives-Comorin area, along and off the Kerala coast and adjoining South-East Arabian Sea. High winds of the same speed and intensity will prevail over the South-East and adjoining East-Central Arabian Sea and Lakshadweep. Fishermen are advised not to venture into along and off the Kerala coast on Sunday; Lakshadweep and the South-East Arabian Sea off Kerala on both Sunday and Monday.
Heavy rain forecast
Tamil Nadu pulverised
Meanwhile, many parts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal received heavy to very rainfall with extreme heavy falls during the 24 hours ending on Saturday morning. The highest rainfall amounts reported (above 10 cm) are: Sirkali-44; Kollidam-32, Chidambaram-31; Annamalai Nagar-28; Chidambaram-27; Bhuvanagiri-21; Kothavacherry and KM Koil-19 each: Tarangambadi and Parangipettai-18 each; Mayiladuthurai, Manalmedu, Sethiathope and Kurinjipadi-16 each; Kangeyam-15; Ponnamaravathi, Vellakoil and Lalpet-13 each; Vadakuthu, Mylampatti and Aravakurichi-12 each; Ulundurpet, Kudithangi, Karaiyur, Vedasandur, Vanamadevi, Karaikal, Tiruppur, and Vepur-11 each; and Me Mathur, Lower Anaicut, Virudachalam, Collectorate, Vanur, Paramathivelur, Agaram Seegoor, Cheyyur and Panruti-10 each.
(E.o.m.)