Chennai and parts of coastal Tamil Nadu witnessed moderate rains on Monday, January 17 and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that rainfall in these areas will continue till Wednesday, January 19. Chennai and the adjoining districts received moderate to heavy rain on Monday, while heavy also lashed several coastal areas. IMD officials said that one or two places in Tiruvallur district would also receive heavy rainfall.
Chennai recorded a dip in mercury following the downpour in many parts of the city, with the minimum temperature dipping to 22.7 degrees Celsius, much below the average of 29.3 degrees.
S Balachandran, Deputy Director-General of Meteorology, Chennai, said that moderate rains may continue over a few places in the north coastal region and Puducherry. He also said that interior areas of the state will also experience moderate rains on Tuesday.
The convergence of strong easterlies at the lower level and westerly winds at the upper level of the atmosphere triggered the rain over the state, the statement said. The North-East monsoon has still not withdrawn from the state and the IMD officials said that the spillover till January was not uncommon.
Over the next two days, in Chennai, the sky is likely to be generally cloudy and moderate rain is likely to occur in some areas. The maximum and minimum temperature is likely to be around 29˚C and 24˚C, respectively.
About two weeks ago, on December 30, Chennai saw sudden intense rainfall and according to weather bloggers, it rained more than it had in 2015. The IMD had issued a heavy rainfall warning for two days, December 31, 2021, and January 1, but the December 30 rains took everyone by surprise. Following the rains, a strong demand to upgrade weather prediction technology at IMD Chennai (Regional Meteorological Centre) has emerged.