India Meteorological Department (IMD) has projected that heavy rainfall would continue to lash parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Lakshadweep on Friday.

The causative trough of low (elongated area of lower pressure and hence weather-friendly) extending from south coastal Tamil Nadu to north coastal Andhra Pradesh persisted on Thursday.

COUNTERPART TROUGH

A counterpart trough of low extending from Lakshadweep area to east-central Arabian Sea too persisted.

But this is now expected to graduate to the next level and become a conventional low-pressure system by Friday.

Easterly winds would force the ‘low’ to track a movement away from India’s west coast.

Some global models indicate the possibility of yet another ‘low’ forming in southeast Arabian Sea and intensifying as a likely storm during the next week.

But no such system is forecast for the Bay of Bengal, where easterlies would continue to target the Tamil Nadu coast and dump seasonal moisture.

SATELLITE PICTURES

Insat pictures in the afternoon showed the presence of convective (rain-bearing) clouds standing over parts of south peninsular India, Lakshadweep area, south and west-central Bay of Bengal, south Andaman Sea and central and south Arabian Sea.

A forecast outlook by the International Research Institute (IRI) for Climate and Society at Columbia University said that the northern Tamil Nadu around Puducherry would continue to witness wet weather during the six days until October 30.

This is the area expected to receive better than average rainfall for this time of the year, the IRI update said.

VIGOROUS MONSOON

During the 24 hours ending Thursday morning, the northeast monsoon remained vigorous over coastal Tamil Nadu and was active over interior Tamil Nadu and Kerala, an IMD update said.

Isolated heavy to very heavy falls fell over coastal Tamil Nadu. Moderate to heavy rainfall occurred at most places over Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep.

An IMD outlook valid until Tuesday next (November 1) said that rain or thundershowers are likely at many places over extreme south peninsular India.