Chennai Rains rewrite highest rainfall record in December

Unprecedented heavy Chennai rains, followed by Chennai floods, marked the beginning of December this year. After wrecking havoc on the residents of the capital city of Tamil Nadu for almost a month in November, back to back systems in the Bay of Bengal continued to give torrential rain over the city in December as well, resulting in a flood like situation over many areas of the state.

Chennai has so far received 539 mm of rain in December as against the monthly average of 191 mm. Chennai rain in December was almost 3 times more than the normal rainfall in December. It has also broken the record of last ten years when the capital city received 421 mm of rain in 2005.

Must Read: Why Chennai received this heavy rain? 

During the month of November, the city recorded a whopping 1218.6 mm of rain, which is three times its monthly rainfall. The normal rainfall figures for November stand at 407.4 mm.

On December 1, in just a span of 12 hours, Chennai has received a record breaking 272 mm of rainfall. The city’s normal rainfall for December stands at 191 mm. Not only this, Chennai has also broken over a 100-year-old 24 hour rainfall record.

Previously, on December 10, 1901, Chennai had recorded 261.6 mm rainfall in a span of 24 hours. Chennai has also broken monthly rainfall record of December 1910. With more rain in the offing, 2015 will be a record breaking year for Chennai in terms of rainfall.

As per Skymet Meteorology Division in India, heavy to very heavy rain is unlikely in Chennai for now.

Image Credit: wsj.com