November Cyclones – Historical Perspective – Tamil Nadu

COMK Analysis
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With the cyclone brewing in the Bay of Bengal its time to put a historical perspective to the November cyclones over the last 50 years that hit Chennai.

About 18 systems have hit Tamil Nadu during November which compared to the rest of East coast of about 35 systems gives a probability of 1 in 3 systems hitting Tamil Nadu.

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The last biggest system to hit Tamil Nadu was Cyclone Jal in the year 2010 which became a Very Severe Cyclone before making a landfall at Chennai as a depression.

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The year 1996 saw a Severe Cyclone making a complete clockwise loop which lasted for four days, a Bay of Bengal record, another cyclone which made landfall close to Chennai.

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The year 1966 was unique in its own, possibly the only time Chennai was hit by two Very Severe Cyclone within a month, the first one hitting Chennai around 3rd November and the second one hitting Chennai around 28th November.

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