Chennai: Karaikal has set a new rainfall record in meteorology by witnessing an unpredictable weather event. The Union Territory on Saturday, received heavy rainfall of 17.3cm, with more than 10cm recorded in a span of one hour.
Coupled with a visible thunderstorm activity, the showers have, thus wiped away the previous record set in March 2008, data availed from India Meteorological Department said.
Attributing the rainfall event to the sudden cloudburst, Weather blogger, Pradeep John told DC, that such events could not be predicted through weather models. “Saturday rains have wiped away the earlier record of 11.3 cm, received by the city on March 13, 2008. The city recorded massive rains from 8.30 am to 2.30 pm, with more than 10 cm witnessed in an hour between 10 am and 11 am,” he added. Saturday rains are the heaviest the city has seen, after the failure of our northeast monsoon, he added.
Cloudburst, which is a development of convergence, is generally experienced in non-rainy seasons. Director of Regional Meteorological Centre, S. Balachandran said that isolated regions of the union territory also received rains. “Interestingly, Kodavasal, which is 50 kilometers away from Karaikal had very light showers.”
In a major relief, southern districts received significant rainfall due to the trough in southwest Bay of Srilankan- Tamil Nadu coast. “Rains can also be witnessed in North Interior districts due to the wind discontinuity running from North to South,” said S. Balachandran. Nagapattinam, where the ground water levels are drastically declining has recorded 8.5cm of rainfall. “There is a possibility of North Coastal districts including Chennai receiving light showers in the next two to three days, due to the moisture content,” said John.
