Vanakkam! Daybreak saw humidity topping at 100 per cent, temperature and dew point locked at 27.7 degrees Celsius, according to the Chennai Met Office of the India Meteorological Department (IM). Winds vary in direction — from north-westerly to northerly to north-easterly.
If one reads the tea leaves — in as much as it is a fortune-telling method that interprets their patterns — these winds shouldn't mean much for Chennaiites. Slight disappointment there, since the current forecast is for partly cloudy skies with light rain in some areas.
Apparently, the North-East monsoon is enjoying a break. Which is just as well rustling up as it does the energy required for the next calculated assault on the coastline.
The forecast from the Chennai Met Office for the rest of the Friday is as follows: Generally cloudy skies, with light to moderate rain/thundershowers in some areas. Maximum and minimum temperatures may range between 32- and 26 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Tomorrow should see generally cloudy skies. Light to moderate rain/thundershowers may occur in some areas. Maximum and minimum temperatures to range between 32- and 26 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Not quite reassuring for the hardcore rain fans in Chennai!
The city's weather bloggers are not amused either, as is evident from the following:
This tell-tale picture (see below) that we get as of 8.30 am conveys just as much — not just Chennai, practically no part of entire Tamil Nadu and Puducherry is getting any meaningful rain!
According to old wisdom, clouds on hilltops, if falling, promise rain; if rising, promise clear weather. Or, look for rain when the crow flies low; or, closer home, when cats wash behind their ears. It is also said that flies flies bite more when it is going to rain.
Private weather forecaster Skymet Weather, too, sees nothing significant in terms of weather for Chennai today (Friday), except a hint of a round of thundershowers in the evening.
Sunny, with scattered thunderstorms is the outlook from WeatherBug:
The Weather Channel, an IBM Business, doesn’t see things very differently:
Windy.com provides the macro view (below) that spans the Arabian Sea (with severe cyclone Maha prominently captured to the West of Mangaluru-Kundapura in Karnataka) and indifferent winds across the Bay of Bengal (which is why Tamil Nadu remains largely dry, while it rains out in the open Bay waters).
Apparently, the 700-odd-km distance from Mangaluru to Chennai is too large for rain bands from severe cyclone Maha to move across the South Peninsula to the East Coast city.
The winds couldn’t care less, as is shown in their direction and bearing near the Chennai coast (barren south-easterly), except near Puducherry to the South.