A remnant well-marked low-pressure area from erstwhile rain-spewing cyclone Fengal is forecast to drift over north interior Tamil Nadu, south interior and coastal Karnataka and adjoining north Kerala as it looked to step out into south-east and adjoining east-central Arabian Sea off north Kerala-Karnataka coasts by Tuesday, India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said.
Ongoing heavy to very heavy rain at a few places with extremely heavy falls at isolated places over ghat districts of Tamil Nadu and adjoining Kerala will reduce in intensity and become isolated heavy rain on Tuesday.
This will be matched by a scale-down in intensity of rain over Kerala from heavy to very at a few places with extremely heavy falls at isolated places on Monday tiovery Heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places on Tuesday.
Heavy to very heavy rain over south interior Karnataka with extremely heavy falls at isolated places on Monday will mellow down to isolated heavy rain while over coastal Karnataka, it will be isolated heavy on Tuesday. As for Lakshadweep, the IMD has forecast isolated heavy rain on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
Weakening did not make much impact on rain-making capacity of the remnant system as it poured down extremely over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry & Karaikal and very heavy over Kerala & Mahe during the 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Monday morning.
Raining in the hills
India Meteorological Department (IMD) gave out significant rainfall amounts (in cm) recorded during this period over Tamil Nadu as Yercaud (24); Dharmapuri (16); Salem (6); and in Kerala & Mahe at Kottayam (18); Cochin (CIAL) airport-15; and Kozhikode-7.
This followed record-breaking spells triggered by it while being a cyclone and its gradual weakening to a deep depression and depression through Sunday before being categorised as a well-marked ‘low’ today. These included an outrageous 50 cm-plus spell over Puducherry creating a 30-year record for a 24-hour-spell and a number of other 40-50 cm spells in the neighbourhood.
‘Ghost town’ Bay of Bengal
Satellite pictures at 3 pm on Monday afternoon indicated moderate rain over Udhagamandalam on the hills to the west of Tamil Nadu and a blow-up of rain on the north Kerala coast from Ponnani, Thrissur, Kodakara, Kodungaloor to Kalamassery.
The larger Bay of Bengal represented a ghost town with nil activity except plumes of clouds after frenetic build-up to formation of and wear-down of cyclone Fengal. There are indications a rain-friendly easterly wave may set sail from Sumatra (from where Fengal had originated as a low-pressure area) to Sri Lanka and southern-most parts of Tamil Nadu in next few days.