Chennai: Chennai is likely to remain cloudy and may receive heavy rainfall on Monday as Cyclone Murasu moves closer to the south Andhra Pradesh coast. Though the city is likely to escape the cyclone’s intense rainfall zone, its outer rain bands are expected to bring showers to Chennai and neighbouring districts from Monday morning, offering some relief from the prevailing warm conditions. For Tiruvallur and Chennai, IMD has forecast heavy rainfall on Monday and issued an orange alert.The cyclonic storm is expected to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by Monday morning before crossing the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur on Monday night. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the system moved west-northwestwards at 27kmph in the six hours preceding 2.30pm on Sunday. It was centred about 480km east-southeast of Chennai, 550km east-southeast of Nellore and 610km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam.For Chennai, the main impact is expected to be from the peripheral rain bands rather than the cyclone’s core. Tamil Nadu Weatherman Pradeep John said rain bands could extend towards north Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, from early Monday morning. The city is likely to witness cloudy skies, intermittent showers and cooler conditions as the system moves towards Andhra Pradesh.“Chennai may miss out on the heavy rainfall associated with the cyclone, but moderate cloud bands could still move across the city, bringing some spells of rain as the system passes,” he said. North Chennai, particularly coastal areas, could receive stronger spells, while the Ponneri-Gummidipoondi-Pulicat belt also has a chance of heavy rainfall, he added.The IMD has forecast light to moderate rain at many places in northern coastal Tamil Nadu on Monday and Tuesday with heavy rain at isolated places. Squally winds are also likely along and off the north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts. Dry weather is expected to prevail across TN from Wednesday.Meanwhile, temperatures remained relatively high across Tamil Nadu on Sunday. Madurai recorded the state’s highest maximum temperature of 35°C. Chennai recorded 32.3°C at Meenambakkam and 33.2°C at Nungambakkam, both slightly above normal. Vellore recorded rainfall of 1.4 cm, while parts of Kancheepuram district received 1.2 cm rainfall on Sunday.Cyclone Murasu’s Tamil linkChennai: The cyclonic storm brewing over the Bay of Bengal has been named Murasu, after the traditional Tamil percussion instrument used in ancient times to make public announcements and convey important messages across villages and kingdoms. The name was proposed by India as part of the international cyclone-naming system.The name features in the list of 13 names submitted by India to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Panel on Tropical Cyclones in 2020. The list was prepared with contributions from 13 member countries, each submitting 13 names.India’s other contributions to the list include Gati, Tej, Aag, Vyom and Neer. Cyclones over the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea are named sequentially from the common list by the India Meteorological Department once they attain the prescribed intensity.
