Two weather systems will bring rain in parts of Tamil Nadu for the next few days. The northeast monsoon of 2023 has spilled over to this year and triggered wet weather.
The Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, has forecast that an easterly wave and a weather disturbance over the Arabian sea will bring light to moderate rain, particularly over south Tamil Nadu this week. The low pressure area over the southeast Arabian sea is likely to become a well-marked low pressure area by Wednesday. Moreover, a cyclonic circulation over the southwest Bay of Bengal, off the Sri Lanka coast, may also trigger scattered rain of light to moderate intensity over parts of Tamil Nadu from January 6.
Officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that one or two places in the Nilgiris may get heavy rain of up to 11.5 cm on January 4 and January 5. A few places in the State, including Chennai, may be covered by mist or haze in the early morning hours on Wednesday.
S. Balachandran, Additional Director General of Meteorology, Chennai, recalled that the northeast monsoon of 2022 had spilled over to mid-January last year too. There were several instances in the past when the monsoon had delayed its withdrawal till the first fortnight of January.
The monsoon would have to meet a few criteria, including dry weather conditions for a few days, for its withdrawal, he added.
In 2023, the annual rainfall in the State was 13% more than the average. During the northeast monsoon, the State received nearly 46 cm of rain, which is 4% more than the normal amount received during the season. Last year’s northeast monsoon was almost similar to that of 2022, which logged 1% more rainfall than the average.
While districts such as Tirunelveli, Coimbatore and Chennai had received excess rain during the 2023 northeast monsoon, nearly 16 districts received deficit rain.
On Tuesday, the State had largely experienced dry weather. None of the weather observatories recorded rain till 6 p.m. The Meteorological department has forecast partly cloudy sky and maximum temperature of 30-31 degrees Celsius till Thursday.
