Vanakkam! Things have quietened a bit over Tamil Nadu and Puducherry this (Monday) morning after a busy and happening evening-night. Here’s the big news: two workhorse low-pressure areas with the potential to cause moderate to heavy rain over land are at it, nearly along a straight line. One is nearer home over the South-East Arabian Sea, while the other is farther away, near the Africa coast, over the South-West Arabian Sea.

Normally, two such weather systems operating in the same monsoon system can last only for so much, but the India Meteorological Department (IMD), New Delhi, has put both of them under watch for calibrated intensification. At some point, one should blink and allow the other to stay on, but this is something that needs to be verified on the ground.

The IMD has put out an alert for depression as the near-shore system travels West-North-West towards the East-Central Arabian Sea and hence seems to favour it to prevail in the final analysis.

Whatever the case, the North-East monsoon should benefit, although rains may reduce over the South Peninsula as the would-be depression careens away in the seawaters some distance away from the coast. The rain belt might shift axis initially from South-East to North-East (South Tamil Nadu to the interior and adjoining Central and North Kerala) tracking the depression, before lifting entirely.

The IMD said in an update this (Monday) morning that the low-pressure area over the South-West Arabian Sea and adjoining Equatorial Indian Ocean has intensified into being well-marked, and may concentrate into a depression by tomorrow (Tuesday).

Similarly, the counterpart system nearer home lies now over the Lakshadweep Area and adjoining South-East Arabian Sea and may become more marked and concentrate into a depression by tomorrow. Neither is willing to blink just yet, perhaps because of the distance between them. The active easterly wave will continue to trigger fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal and heavy falls at isolated places over Kerala and Lakshadweep until tomorrow, the IMD said.

Stellar Sunday show

Meanwhile yesterday (Sunday), after a bit of sunshine following pelting rains, the skies over Chennai turned grey suddenly and opened up from 3.30 pm. An hour later, the heavy rain belt was active to the North, West and South of Chennai with dense clouds pouring it down over Sriharikota, Srikalahasti, Pulicat, Gummidipundi, Thiruttani, Thiruvallur, Sriperumbudur, Ramapuram and Mahabalipuram.

By 5.30 pm, a follow-up armada of aggressive thunderstorms had lined up into the sea, and approached Ramapuram and Chennai from the South-East at 7.35 pm even as advance cloud formations blasted their way into Srikalahasti, Tirupati, and Gudur to the North in Andhra Pradesh.

To the interior South, isolated thunderstorms lashed Kumbakonam, Salem, Dharmapuri and Erode. An organised second assault materialised over Chennai by 8.15 pm, backed by a potent garland of stringed thunderstorms in the sea to the South-East. This is when Sri City, Tirupati, Koduru, Rapur and Podalakur and Rajampet in Andhra Pradesh were being subjected to sustained thrashing by thunderstorms. By 9.50 pm, the skies over Chennai cleared, and thunderstorms in the sea began to strike Krishnapatnam, Podalakur and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh.

Tragedy strikes

PTI, citing police, reports that at least nine persons, including four women, were killed when a wall collapsed on four houses due to heavy downpour in Mettupalayam on Monday.

In Chennai, a 49-year-old man died at Ambattur on Saturday night after accidentally falling into a stormwater drain.

Meanwhile, PTI added, in Puducherry a flood alert was issued on Sunday to villagers living along the banks of the Sankarabarani river on Sunday as water was to be released from Veedur dam, 50 km away. The alert comes in the wake of the decision by the Tamil Nadu government to release water from the dam in Villupuram district on Monday, PTI added. Against the full capacity of 32 feet, the water level in the dam had reached 30.8 feet after heavy rains and water would be released at 4 am on December 2 (Monday), the report said.

To read this report in Tamil, click here

Chennai: overcast, 20% to 50% chance of rain

The Chennai Met Office of the IMD said this (Monday) morning that the winds had turned South-South-East over Chennai, with humidity at 100 per cent and light to moderate rain being forecast under generally cloudy conditions. A more or less lean day, say international models, after the hyperactivity during the last couple of days, with about 20 per cent chance of rain under overcast skies turning considerably cloudy into the night before opening up again tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.

The winds will blow from the North-East for today with a temperature high of 29 degrees Celsius. Cloudy with showers, says another international model forecast, with a third suggesting a 50 per cent chance of storms.

Chennai International Airport (MAA/VOMM) saw fog conditions, calm (nil wind) and a temperature of 26 degrees Celsius at 8 am. Arrivals were on schedule though there was an average 14-minute delay (with reducing tendency) in departures.

Chennai’s bloggers, their followers and the Twitterati continued to soak in the glorious rain and provided an overview of what happened yesterday, when and where:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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