The onset of northeast monsoon, which contributes to a major share of the annual rainfall in the city, is likely to be delayed by two or three days, according to Meteorological department.
The southwest monsoon has not completely withdrawn as evident from westerly wind prevailing in the city. A change in the wind direction from westerly to easterly is a pointer to the onset of northeast monsoon. It sets in usually on October 20, officials of the department said.
Y. E. A. Raj, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, said the lack of clouding has also contributed to the delay in the onset of northeast monsoon.
It has led to the day temperature increasing by a few degrees Celsius on several days this month.
On Tuesday, Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam recorded a maximum temperature of 33.6 degree Celsius and 35.1 degree Celsius respectively. The average temperature for this period is 31 degree Celsius. Last year, the temperature had shot up to 38 degree Celsius on October 8. The rainfall this month has also been less. Both Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam received 33 mm since October 1 against the average of 144 mm and 126 mm respectively, he said. The onset of northeast monsoon was delayed by eight or nine days last year.
AWS inaugurated
An automatic weather station of the India Meteorological Department was inaugurated at the Ennore Port on Tuesday.
Officials of department said the weather station, installed at a cost of Rs.5 lakh, would help in gathering data about weather in north Chennai region. It would provide data pertaining to several parameters, including wind speed, temperature, rainfall and humidity. The data would be collected on an hourly basis and made available on www.imdaws.com, an official said. The department had recently installed an agromet weather station on the Madhavaram campus of Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University. The additional weather stations would enable the department to provide accurate forecast for the Chennai region, the officials said.
