Rain that pounded coastal districts set to ease over T.N.

State records an excess of winter rain this year due to heavy spells both in January and February

Rainfall over the State is set to decrease from Tuesday as the influence of weather systems has reduced over the region, according to the Meteorological Department.

During the past 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Monday, Cuddalore Collectorate recorded the highest amount of rainfall for the day with 12 cm and IMD’s Cuddalore weather station received 11 cm.

Tiruttani in Tiruvallur district and Sivagiri in Tenkasi district received 7 cm. Other places in Puducherry, Coimbatore and Nagapattinam also recorded rain.

Officials of the Meteorological Department said the interaction between the deep westerly trough and the easterly trough at low level had reduced and this would mean a decrease in rainfall intensity over the State from Tuesday.

Dry weather likely

S. Balachandran, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Chennai, said light rain is possible at one or two places over districts near the Western Ghats on Tuesday, and dry weather may prevail over the rest of the State.

Normally, winter rains are subdued over the State. But, this time, a westerly trough, combined with strong easterly winds at low level that pushed moisture towards the Tamil Nadu coast, brought heavy rain over coastal places, such as Puducherry and Cuddalore.

Similarly, the State also recorded good rain in mid-January as a spillover from the northeast monsoon.

There have been occasions in the past when the State had received such rain during the winter months, he said.

The current winter rainspell that pounded Puducherry set a new record for the heaviest rain in February. It brought 19 cm in 24 hours ending on Sunday morning, which surpassed the all-time record of rain of 11.6 cm registered in a single day on February 27, 2000.

Tamil Nadu has recorded 15 cm of rain so far, which is in excess by 482% than its average of 3 cm of rain since January 1. The percentage of excess rainfall in all the districts runs in hundreds, officials noted.

However, dry weather is set to return over Tamil Nadu from Wednesday and Chennai will experience a maximum temperature of 31 degree Celsius and a minimum temperature of 22 degree Celsius till Wednesday.