Heavy rains to be confined to two districts on Sunday; to pick up pace in T.N. from August first week, says IMD

Active monsoon conditions bring heavy rains to Nilgiris and Coimbatore ghat areas, with more rainfall expected across Tamil Nadu soon.

Heavy rains will be largely confined to the Nilgiris and ghat areas of Coimbatore on Sunday owing to active monsoon conditions. The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai, has forecast rainfall to pick up over other parts of the State from August first week.

According to the RMC bulletin, one or two places in the State, including Chennai, may experience light to moderate rain for a few days. Rainfall may begin to cover more places in the State from July 30 and pick up intensity from August first week.

Dry weather has meant a slightly higher temperature in several parts of the State. On Saturday, Nagapattinam recorded 39 degree Celsius, which was the highest in the State for the day. Chennai’s Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam too recorded an above average temperature of 36.4 degree Celsius and 36.6 degree Celsius. Udhagamandalam and Valparai received light rain till Saturday evening.

P.Senthamarai Kannan, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, Chennai, said strong westerly current and active monsoon condition over parts of neighbouring State and northern peninsular region influenced rains over hilly region of a few western ghats districts.

Shifting of wind pattern towards weather system in Gangetic West Bengal has led to dry weather in interior parts of the State. However, thunderstorm activity is set to increase from August 1, he said.

This July too is likely to end on a surplus note in the State. Tamil Nadu has received 17.7 cm of rainfall against its normal share of 11 cm so far since June 1.

Y.E.A.Raj, retired Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Chennai, said parts of the State may go dry when monsoon conditions are active in northern region. This year, some weather stations in western ghats like Avalanche received extremely heavy rain.