Northeast Monsoon 2021-22 has been punctuated by extreme rainfall episodes since early November when Chennai & suburbs were hit by a an intense spell of rains that dumped more than 20 cms of rains over parts of the city & Northern suburbs. Subsequently we had more such short duration burst of extreme rainfall episodes, mostly over 3 to 6 hours over places like Nagappattinam & Karaikal, Pondicherry & Cuddalore, Thoothukudi & Tiruchendur during the month of November. While most of December was relatively dry across the state the end of the month once again saw parts of Chennai & suburbs come under another 3 hour episode of extreme rainfall that once again brought nearly 20 cms over most of the city & suburbs.
This week saw Anthiyur / Ammapettai in Erode district was hit by two days of freak spell of heavy rains which accumulated to more than 25 cms going by some of the readings recorded by private RG, while the number may be debatable the effect of the rains was visible going by the clippings carried by Tamil News Channels about inundated agricultural fields after the heavy rains over two days in the region. Ironically coastal areas of Tamil Nadu has been relatively dry though parts of Chennai recorded light rains, particularly places closer to the coast line which recorded slightly moderate rains, during the early morning hours on Pongal day.
Going by weather model outputs particularly looking at the wind charts it appears after today / tomorrow gradually we are likely to see the drier winds from Northeast establish itself over most parts of Peninsular India which is likely to bring drier conditions for the next week to 10 days over most of S. India except for the northern areas of Peninsular India which could come under some rains due to the influence of Western Disturbance that may dip down up to Central India early next week.
Today though parts of South TN closer to the western Ghats & one or two places in West Interior TN may see light to moderate spell of rains later in the evening due to wind induced instabilities as Easterlies give way to winds from Northeast. Gradually we could see drier weather get established from tomorrow. Coastal areas like Chennai may see occasional drizzle / light rains particularly during the morning hours in one or two places.