There is a limited chance of rainfall over Tamil Nadu as cyclonic storm ‘Fani’ may not make landfall close to the State’s coast, according to the Meteorological Department.
S.Balachandran, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Chennai, on Saturday said that the cyclonic storm, centred over southeast Bay of Bengal and East Equatorial Indian Ocean, 1,240 km southeast of Chennai, is likely to become a severe cyclonic storm by Sunday. Moving at a speed of 18 km per hour, it may reach near the north Tamil Nadu and South Andhra Pradesh coast by the evening of April 30. There may not be any heavy rainfall activity over the State. The weather models indicate that only light to moderate rain may occur in a few places of north coastal areas on April 30 and May 1. “Any direct impact of the system depends on its movement. It is now not favourable to make landfall close to the Tamil Nadu coast. If it comes closer, up to 200-300 km off Tamil Nadu coast, we can have moderate rains. We are monitoring the system for any changes in its track,” he said.
According to weather expert, Y.E.A.Raj, in the past five decades since 1968, eight systems formed in the Bay of Bengal in April. Of this, six were severe cyclonic storms. But, none of them came close to the east coast of India. Four weather systems formed in Bay of Bengal between 2006 and 2017 in April.” The department has advised fishermen not to venture into sea from April 28 to May 1. The sea condition would be rough along and off the Puducherry and Tamil Nadu coast.