Parts of north T.N. witness record single day rain in January

Some places in north Tamil Nadu received a heavy downpour that also turned out to be record breaking on a single day in January. The Northeast monsoon continues to be vigorous over the State. While the rain spell may last till Saturday, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) has predicted that the spell of rain may start shifting towards south Tamil Nadu on Tuesday.

Puducherry received its highest 24 hour rainfall (nearly 13 cm) in January on Monday morning. The previously recorded all time high rainfall was registered in the Union Territory on January 4, 1985. In the last 101 years, Nagapattinam registered its second highest, single day 24 hour rainfall (21 cm) on Monday.

It had received its all time high rainfall of 24.5 cm on January 13, 1923. According to RMC records, the overnight downpour (13.6 cm) in Cuddalore turned out to be the third highest spell of rain received in one day in January. Its all time high record rainfall (19.7 cm) was recorded on January 12, 1967.

Several other places, too, received intense rainfall, with Sirkali registering nearly 24 cm till 8.30 a.m. on Monday. The RMC has forecast scattered downpour to persist, particularly over the southern parts of the State. Heavy rain may be concentrated over Tirunelveli, Ramanathapuram, Kanniyakumari and Thoothukudi districts till January 11.

Officials said a trough in easterlies from south Sri Lanka to the north coastal part of Tamil Nadu and another system in the Arabian sea, brought in the spell of rain over the State. S. Balachandran, Additional Director General of Meteorology, Chennai, said a combination of global weather parameters and local conditions had sustained the Northeast monsoon conditions into the month of January.

Besides being an El Nino year coupled with positive Indian Ocean Dipole, warmer temperature in north Indian ocean and easterly wave on the move made conditions favourable for cloud formation and heavy rain over the State. Convergence of winds over the Bay of Bengal, too, influenced the weather condition.

However, rain showed a decreasing trend from January 14 over the State. “Heavy rainfall episodes are not entirely uncommon in early January. We have had similar extreme events in the past too,” Mr. Balachandran said. Chennai, which received a rainfall of 4.4 cm, is likely to get light to moderate rain in some areas till Wednesday.

Most places in north Tamil Nadu may miss the morning chill until the wet spell is over. Meanwhile, the Water Resources Department released 1,000 cusecs of water from Poondi reservoir, Tiruvallur district on Monday morning, and later reduced the discharge rate to 750 cusecs after a drop in inflow. COMMents SHARE Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit.