The low pressure area which continues to persist in southwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining Tamil Nadu and Kerala has revived the Northeast Monsoon in South India. Widespread rain, with heavy in isolated pockets has been observed in extreme southern parts of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka on Thursday.
According to rainfall data available with Skymet Meteorology Division in India, Pamban in Tamil Nadu received 84 mm of rain in a span of 24 hours, from 8.30 am on Thursday. Tondi received 65 mm of rain, Karaikal 17 mm, Nagapattinam 21 mm, Madurai 13.2 mm, Palayankottai 29 mm and Trichi 3 mm of rain. The northern parts which include Chennai and Nellore still await rain.
A couple of places in Kerala like Thiruvananthapuram and Punalur also recorded 13 mm and 5.4 mm of rain, respectively. On the other hand, neighbouring Sri Lanka received some very heavy rain. Jaffna on Thursday recorded 120 mm of rain, Colombo 92 mm, Hambantota 59 mm, Vavuniya 35 mm and Mannar 30 mm.
This spell of rain has come as a big relief to South India, Particularly Tamil Nadu and Kerala where Northeast Monsoon had taken a backseat in the last 2-3 weeks, resulting in mounting deficiency. Meanwhile, the weather models at skymet show rain belt shifting and covering entire Tamil Nadu coast, extending to parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh and South Interior Karnataka in next 48 hours. In view of this system shifting, some good rain could be observed in these areas. However, rain in Kerala will still remain scattered and subdued.
