‘Laila' to bring in more rain

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/20/stories/2010052061320400.htm


The following is the text of my 'monsoon watch' story in The Hindu on May 20:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The cyclonic storm ‘Laila' in the Bay of Bengal gained in strength overnight and spun closer to the eastern coast of the country to lie centred around a point some 150 km northeast of Chennai on Wednesday afternoon, sucking into its vortex the rainclouds of the entire seas around.

Satellite picture on Wednesday showed the outer bands of the cyclone circling from north to south tangential to the Kerala coast and not the ideal southwesterly or westerly direction that could send the clouds thudding into the Western Ghats to bring heavy rainfall in the State.

The pressure charts of the India Meteorology Department on Wednesday, however, showed an atmospheric trough looping from the near offshore regions into the hinterlands of the State and this is as ideal condition for precipitation.

Wednesday's record

The heaviest recorded rainfall in the State during the 24 hours ending at 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday was 5 cm at Kunnamkulam in Thrissur district. Many other stations recorded rainfall ranging from 1 cm to 3 cm on the gauge. The prospects are for continued rainfall, because the cyclone is traced to roll up the ridge of the eastern flank of the peninsula drawing moisture from southeast Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the entire Bay of Bengal.

The flow from southeast Arabian Sea could take a direction across the breadth of the State to bring Kerala under more rainfall over the next two days.

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