Orange alert issued in 10 districts in Tamil Nadu over heavy rainfall

With the northeast monsoon set to arrive soon, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Chennai forecast heavy rainfall across Tamil Nadu from October 12 to 15 on Friday and issued an orange alert for October 15 in ten districts including Chennai, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu – the ghats areas of Coimbatore and Tirupur.
Orange alert denotes the message to be prepared in such conditions.
A well marked low pressure area from October 10 over east central Arabian sea off Goa and north Karnataka coasts moved northwestwards and lay over east central Arabian sea off the Maharashtra coast on October 11 morning, the RMC said. The associated cyclonic circulation extends up to 5.8km above mean sea level.
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It is likely to move west-northwestwards and intensify into a depression over central Arabian Sea by October 13 morning, said Senthamarai Kannan, deputy director general of meteorology, RMC.
“A trough runs from the centre of the well marked low pressure area over east central Arabian sea off Maharashtra coast to southeast Arabian sea off south Kerala coast extending up to middle tropospheric levels,” he said.
“Thursday’s upper air cyclonic circulation over southwest Bay of Bengal off Tamil Nadu coast lay over south Tamil Nadu coast and extends up to 1.5km above mean sea level. Another upper air cyclonic circulation layover central parts of south Bay of Bengal and extends up to 3.1km above mean sea level,” he added.
For the next week in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the RMC has forecast moderate to very heavy rainfall in various parts. A heavy rainfall warning has been given to places over Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts and over Ghat areas of Coimbatore and Tirupur districts; Nilgiris, Erode, Salem, Namakkal, Karur, Dindigul, Theni, Virudhunagar, Tenkasi, Madurai, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram and Pudukkottai districts.
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Fishermen were advised not to venture into the sea, as squally weather with wind speed reaching 35kmph to 45kmph gusting to 55kmph is likely.
Chennai enjoyed a pleasant weather on Friday after days of heat. It will continue to be cloudy for the next couple of days. “Moderate rain with thunderstorms and lightning is likely to occur in some areas. Maximum temperature is likely to be 32-33°C and minimum temperature is likely to be 25-26°C,” the RMC said on Friday. “For next 48 hours, the sky condition is likely to be partly cloudy.”