With Northeast Monsoon season officially ending on 31st December its time to talk about Chennai Winter. In what was a record breaking Northeast Monsoon the meteorological sub division of Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry ended up with an excess of 53% compared to average rainfall.
Winter Rains
Though the official Northeast Monsoon season ends on 31st December Tamil Nadu continues to get some bit of Easterly Rains through the first fortnight of January but these are considered as part of the Winter Rain. Nevertheless as clearly indicated by the Daily Rainfall Graph for January & February the average rains don’t exceed 1 mm a day for the state mostly.
Compare this with the Northeast Monsoon period when the average long term rainfall for the state exceeds 10 mm a day for most days during October / November months. These rains again are mostly again restricted to South Tamil Nadu and North & Interior Tamil Nadu region mostly ends up with dry spells except for some occasional passing showers in case the Easterly Wave climbs up the latitude.
Chennai Winter
While Chennai does not provide with a winter weather that could be compared to places like Bangalore / Hyderabad we indeed have a short period when the early mornings are foggy and fairly cool. As the proverb goes “காக்கைக்கும் தன் குஞ்சு பொன் குஞ்சு” so let us enjoy the short and sweet Chennai Winter. Over the next couple of weeks we will see Chennai go through fairly clear days with day time temperature around 30°C and night time temperatures around 21°C. Next week could see one or two days dipping to 20s.
Weather Outlook
Mostly dry weather across Peninsular India with very little chance of any rains. Partly cloudy skies could be possible in South TN and parts of East Coastal Peninsular India. Few places around South Interior Karnataka & adjoining parts of Rayalaseema & TN could see night time temperatures dip to around 15°C or lesser.
Chennai to see day time temperature around 30°C with partly cloudy skies during the early part of the day. Night time minimum temperature could be around 21°C