Low-pressure over Bay of Bengal may bring heavy rain to Tamil Nadu from today

CHENNAI: A developing weather system over the Bay of Bengal is likely to influence Tamil Nadus rainfall pattern over the coming week, even as the northeast monsoon continues to underperform this November. The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) said an upper air cyclonic circulation over the Strait of Malacca is expected to develop into a low-pressure area over the southeast Bay later on Saturday. The system may intensify into a depression over the central south Bay by November 24 and could strengthen further while moving west-northwest. Heavy rainfall is likely across coastal and southern districts till November 24. The IMD has issued rain alerts for Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Tenkasi, Ramanathapuram, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Cuddalore, Pudukkottai and Karaikal on different days. Weather bloggers, however, warn that the impact depends heavily on the systems point of genesis. Blogger K Srikanth said the narrow 200-km stretch near Sumatra often determines whether a system curves towards TN or not. Blogger Pradeep John said that November may end as one of the driest in recent years. Chennai is expected to see partly cloudy skies with light to moderate rain.