Progress of monsoon still clouded

Chennaiittes may have been tempted to scream aloud in joy for the city witnessed steady drizzle since last night. But the joy seemed shortlived as the sky cleared this morning and the sun was out. And the Chennai Metrological Office seems to still hedge its bet on the monsoon.

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After saying that the monsoon will set from today, the Met office today said that the 'monsoon will set in a couple of days'. The brief spell of rain for the last couple of days were an indicator to it, they said. Rain or thunder showers are likely to be expected in the areas of coastal Tamilnadu and Pondicherry and in one or two places of interior Tamilnadu too, said the officials. By Thursday, increased moisture transport and strengthening wind speeds would help push up humidity to 100 per cent and trigger widespread rains all over coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The familiar sight of traffic jam or potholes on the road after a decent spell of rain did not bother residents as they were waiting anxiously for this. Theye were in no mood to complain. With several places reeling under acute water scarcity, it was obvious that northeast monsoon was their last hope. Says Packiyaraj, an autodriver, 'From August, the weather turns breezy at least from the early evening, but this year you felt as though it is still summer. If the monsoon fails. the fate of the city would be doomed'. Echoing the same is Gangadharan, an government employee, 'the heat was unbearable until a couple of days ago. Hopefully the coming days would fetch more rain for us. We were expecting heavy rain today. In contrast, it is slowly turning out to be a another hot day'. The monsoon is important for Tamilnadu: 48 per cent of the State's annual rainfall of 945 mm is received during this season. As for the delayed onset, it is noted that since 1979 the onset has occurred in the second half of October on 16 occasions and in November four times. In the remaining 10 years it happened in the first half of October. But as on date, Tamilnadu has had 78 per cent deficit in rainfall for the month of October. Against the normal 155 mm, it received 35 mm.