Chennai is expected to receive heavy to very heavy rain, thunderstorms and strong winds of 40-50 kmph on Monday, October 19, with the Regional Meteorological Centre warning that isolated parts of the city could see particularly intense spells.
The forecast covers Chennai, Tiruchy, Coimbatore and the Nilgiris, where heavy to very heavy rain is likely at isolated places. The RMC said several other districts of Tamil Nadu, along with Puducherry and Karaikal, could also receive heavy rain accompanied by thunder, lightning and strong winds.
Chennai is likely to remain generally cloudy, with the maximum temperature forecast at 32-33°C and the minimum at 24-25°C. The weather system driving the rainfall is an upper-air cyclonic circulation over the southwest Bay of Bengal and the adjoining north Tamil Nadu coast, along with a trough extending towards the northwest Bay of Bengal, according to the weather department.
The warning comes after an active phase of the northeast monsoon brought intense rain to several parts of Chennai on Saturday night. North Chennai recorded between 6 cm and 10 cm of rain in less than an hour, leaving several localities inundated and disrupting traffic.
The weather department had issued a red alert for Chennai on Sunday following the overnight rainfall, but later downgraded the warning to yellow. An orange alert was issued for heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places across Tamil Nadu. The latest forecast indicates that the city could continue to face periods of heavy rainfall even as the alert level varies across districts.
For October 20, an orange alert has been issued for Theni, Tirunelveli and Madurai, while a yellow alert covers Chennai, Coimbatore, the Nilgiris, Tiruppur, Salem, Tiruchy and Kanniyakumari, as well as Puducherry and Karaikal. On October 21, the Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Madurai, Theni, Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli and Dindigul are expected to receive orange-alert rainfall, with Chennai remaining under a yellow alert.
Yellow alerts have also been forecast for several districts on October 22, 23 and 24. The districts named in these forecasts include the Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Dindigul, Theni, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari, Salem, Namakkal, Tiruchy, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam, depending on the day.
Under the India Meteorological Department’s classification, a yellow alert represents 6-11 cm of rainfall within 24 hours, an orange alert represents 12-20 cm and a red alert indicates more than 20 cm. The RMC’s multi-day forecast keeps Chennai and several other urban districts under continuing watch as the monsoon system remains active.
