Yesterday saw the stretch between Mahabalipuram & Puducherry record moderate to heavy rainfall activity while light rains were reported from many parts of Tamil Nadu under the influence of the Trough of Low that continues to persist over the Comorin Sea area.
While Chennai did not record much rainfall during the day places about 50 kms to the south of Chennai recorded fairly heavy rains. Cheyyur in Kanchipuram district just south of Kalpakkam recorded more than 5 cms while the IMD observatory in Puducherry recorded more than 3 cms until today morning.
This could be the last batch of rains for the year 2018 as the Trough of Low is expected to fade away from being an influencing factor. Currently lying to the west of Sri Lanka it is expected to drift further west bringing most parts of Tamil Nadu under the influence of the drier Northerlies from today. While today parts of Delta and places in South TN could see some isolated rains due to Easterlies continuing in the lower latitudes places most parts of the state will remain relatively dry from today bringing an end to the rains for the year 2018.
While NEM season officially closes on 31st December between today & end of the season not much addition is likely to the numbers so in all probability Tamil Nadu will see NEM 2018 end as a deficit year. Chennai has possibly seen the last rains of the year & it remains to be seen if we could see any beneficial rainfall activity in January 2019 before IMD announces the withdrawal of Northeast Monsoon