eather bloggers are on a mission to create awareness among city residents about the El Nino year and its impact on the northeast monsoon. There is a sense of urgency to their message because we are in an El Nino year.
“We expect the monsoon to be normal. An El Nino year gives good northeast monsoon. It will be a good steady rain,” said a weather blogger. He was one of the many weather bloggers who had gathered at Semmozhi Poonga on Sunday, ahead of the northeast monsoon.
On the flip side, an El Nino year also brings cyclones and storms.
“We are planning to create a mobile app to give short-term warning to residents in the city,” said P. Gopalakrishnan, another weather blogger. “We are now checking whether we can add to the knowledge of government bodies. We blog on a daily basis and we get at least 2000 comments a day. We are trying to make sure our forecast is as perfect as possible. This particular meeting is aimed at understanding the monsoon,” he said.
Pointing to the development of a tropical storm in the bay, one blogger said “a disorganised area of thunderstorm persists to the east of Sri Lanka. This disturbance is showing some signs of intensification and would develop into a low pressure area in the next one or two days. Computer models show that this weak tropical feature will develop into a cyclonic storm by the end of this week. Currently, conditions are somewhat favourable in southwest bay for further development. This system is expected to move closer to Tamil Nadu coast around October 27 and will bring heavy rainfall to the coastal parts, triggering the north east monsoon.”
The city’s blogging community plans to share information on monsoon with other communities in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
We are planning to create a mobile app to give short-term warning to residents in the city
