Monday 21 October 2013

Monsoon magic is here; city’s woes to overflow soon

IMD to make an announcement on the onset of NE monsoon on Monday

The conditions are favourable for the commencement of North East monsoon in 48 hours.
“There has been plenty of rain today [Sunday]. Over 71 per cent of 285 stations in Tamil Nadu have registered rainfall today,” said Y.E.A. Raj, Deputy Director-General of Meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) would wait for rains to start in Andhra Pradesh to announce the onset of North East monsoon.
This year, the monsoon is expected to bring significant amount of the 140 mm of rainfall received annually in Chennai. Change in the winds from westerlies to easterlies has come as a prelude to the onset of the monsoon.
By 8.30 pm on Sunday, Nungambakkam recorded 16.6 mm of rainfall and Meenambakkam, 5 mm. The winter monsoon brings in a chunk of Chennai’s annual rainfall.
Satellite imagery showed convective clouds rising over coastal Tamil Nadu. “North East monsoon is setting in. It is only a question of announcing it. This year, we do not have a clear dry spell separating the withdrawal of the South West monsoon and the onset of the North East monsoon,” said Dr.Raj.
Studies carried out
in past 142 years
The announcement is made based on studies carried out in the past 142 years by the IMD.
As usual, the city is still bracing up for the monsoon that usually inundates city roads and floods suburbs. According to officials, most of the drains in the city remain clogged and yet to be desilted.
In addition to the Met Department stations, rainfall data in Tamil Nadu is collected through rain gauge observatories maintained by the Revenue Department.
Observatories are located in areas such as Chepauk, Taramani, Avadi, Madhavaram and Ennore.
Educational institutions such as Anna University and Sathyabama University also have facilities for data collection of such data.

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