The rain-driving low-pressure area over off Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu coast has moved north to lie off Tamil Nadu and South Coastal Andhra Pradesh coasts, an India Met Department (IMD) update said.
In the process, it has weakened into a trough but may not offer much respite for the Tamil Nadu and South Coastal Andhra Pradesh coasts since even a trough is capable of anchoring a wet spell.
This is all the more so because the North-East monsoon flows are about to accelerate in view of a remnant of erstwhile typhoon 'Damrey' hurtling towards the Andaman Sea/Bay of Bengal very soon.
Even otherwise, the Bay has already become a minefield of rain-bearing systems with a trough each to its south-east and south-west, complimented by a cyclonic circulation over the Gulf of Mannar. Not to be missed out is a third trough over the Lakshadweep area. What each does in common is relay the North-East monsoon flows being relayed by the other towards the coast.
In this manner, the trough combo in the Bay pump in the flows towards Tamil Nadu-South Coastal Andhra Pradesh while the circulation over Gulf of Mannar too does its bit.
Heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places over Coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry today. Heavy rain is also likely at isolated places over Kerala, South Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema.
Charged settings
The trough over Lakshadweep area direct the flows away from the peninsular coast and out into the Arabian Sea but is strategically located to get the Bay of Bengal systems working in tandem.
It is into this charged settings that the 'Damrey' remnant joins in, which would help strengthen the flows further across the Bay and towards the coast.
A weather tracker of the US Climate Prediction Centre said that the Bay would remain in animated state at least for the next eight to 10 days.
It suspects that the northern Tamil Nadu coast, South Coastal Andhra Pradesh and even Odisha/Bengal coast could witness some kind of enhanced weather activity during this period.
It may be recalled that the US agency, as part of its periodic global predictions, had put the South China Sea, Gulf of Thailand, and the Bay of Bengal under storm watch until mid-November.