Vanakkam! Good Rainy/Showery Morning, Chennai! A vigorous lashing by the North-East monsoon’s long tail seems to have been pummelled Chennai and Tamil Nadu into submission on this last day of November! Reports suggest that schools in Chennai and Kancheepuram have been ordered closed for today.

All this has come about as a low-pressure area formed over the Equatorial Indian Ocean and adjoining South-West Arabian Sea, which is dragging the easterly winds into the South Peninsula. The low-pressure area is likely to move west-northwestwards and intensify during the next two days. It serves Tamil Nadu's cause better since a low-pressure area nearer home could have fizzled out sooner than in the instant case. The more the easterlies, the merrier for Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and the rest of the South Peninsula.

Rain from Chennai to Kanyakumari

So, raging thunderstorms fuelled by the low-pressure area took the cover of darkness to strike the coast from Chennai to Kanyakumari, after being heated up in a sustained manner through the day. Cooling of the air into the evening brought down the saturation point into the night. This meant that moisture previously fanned in by helpful easterlies and being fed incrementally could not hang any longer, and started pouring down heavily to the accompaniment of howling winds and lightning ground strikes in some areas.

This morning does not look any different with marauding cloud bands seeking to enter Chennai and its neighbourhood, and the city could be in for intermittent spells during the day. Thunderstorms stood strung together at 8 am over Chennai and its neighbourhood in a South-West to East-North-East axis covering Thiruvannamalai, Kancheepuram and Chennai districts.

Just to the South, an even bigger constellation of thunderstorms stood guard over Tindivanam, Puducherry, Cuddalore, Neyveli, Virudhachalam, Chidambaram, Ngapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Ariyalur, Permbalur, Karaikal, Thiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukottai and Adiramapattinam.

Some distance out into the outer Bay of Bengal thunderstorms lined up in the shape of a Chinese dragon with its eyes intensely focused on the coastal stretch from Adiramapattinam to Chidambaram to Cuddalore. This represented the familiar face of the North-East monsoon when starts raging across the seas on its approach towards the coast.

At 8 am, thunderstorms lining up from Pattukottai, past Velankanni, Chidambaram, Cuddalore, Puducherry, Mahabalipuram, Ramapuram, Chennai and right into Pulicat and Sriharikota were being driven from a South-East to North-West direction. If they persist, they could interfere with those travelling to Namakkal, Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Ambur into Bengaluru.

The dragon-like formation of the cloud bands had started dismembering, with potent remnants in the form of smithereens headed coast-ward. Depending on the direction of prevailing winds, they could hit the coast at various places.

Chennai: 90% chance of rain in the day, 100% at night

The Chennai Met Office of the India Meteorological Department and international models concur that the rest of Saturday may see easterly-to-north-easterly winds dominating, but that does not take away the threat for commuters to Bengaluru. There is an elevated 90 per cent chance of rain during the day becoming 100 per cent into the night as thunderstorms keep vigil over the city.

Day temperatures would not seek a high beyond 28 degrees Celsius with winds east-north-easterly holding steady at 15- to 25 km/hr. The night low should be around 25 degrees Celsius with winds only a little subdued at 10-15 km/hr before giving way to thunderstorms early tomorrow (Sunday) morning.

Chennai International Airport (MAA/VOMM)

The airport reported rainy conditions in the morning, with north-easterly winds clocking at 14 km/hr and temperature reading at 25 degrees Celsius at 8.40 am. There was an average delay of seven minutes in arrivals and an enhanced 18-minute delay in departures, probably exacerbated by the weather.

Cloudy conditions with enhanced probability of rain were reported from Puducherry and all major cities in Tamil Nadu, including Salem, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai and Thoothukudi in the morning with even higher probability for a wetter evening/night.

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Commuters are adviced to be more cautious on wet roads

 

IMD forecast

A national weather outlook by the India Meteorological Department in New Delhi said that the active easterly wave conditions over the South Peninsula would see fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with heavy rainfall at a few places and very heavy falls at isolated places over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal on Saturday and Sunday.

Heavy rainfall is also very likely at isolated places over Kerala, South Interior Karnataka, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Lakshadweep from today (Saturay) to Monday. On Friday, the heaviest rainfall in Tamil Nadu was reported from Kattumannarkoil and Lower Anicut (12 cm each); Mayiladuthurai, Anaikaranchatram and Lalpet (8 cm each); and Jayamkondam and Manalamedu (7 cm each). A number of centres recorded moderate to heavy rain (3 cm, 4 cm, 5 cm and 6 cm) during the period and a large number of others, light rain.

Chennai’s bloggers and Twitterati went to town celebrating the cause of rain through the night and into the morning!

 

 

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