Southwest Monsoon this year started with a bang even before the traditional onset date over Kerala. Late May saw a Monsoon surge that brought one of the earliest monsoon onsets in recent years. Subsequently as we came to the traditional onset window monsoon stalled for nearly two weeks. Between 26th May and 15th June the…
Monsoon 2025 to revive after early season pause
Intra-seasonal monsoon oscillation is an integral part of SWM every year. The onset and withdrawal of Monsoon is a much discussed phenomenon. Onset and withdrawal has ben religiously monitored and documents for the last many decades. A lesser discussed characteristic is the Intra-seasonal oscillation. In other words active and break events of Monsoon. This paper…
Veppasalanam Thunderstorms likely for the next few days
One of the words most popularised by Dr S R Ramanan was “Veppasalanam”. “வெப்பசலனம் காரனமாக மழை” is a phrase that owes so much to Dr Ramanan. Tamil is such a beautiful language that understood water cycle very early. “வான்முகந்த நீர் மழை பொழியவும் மழைப் பொழிந்த நீர் கடல் பரப்பவும் மாரி பெய்யும் பருவம் போல் நீரின்றும் நிலத்து ஏற்றவும் நிலத்தினின்று நீர்ப்பரப்பவும் அளந்து அறியாப் பல பண்டம்” – பட்டினப்பாலை. Veppasalanam as a word pretty much sums…
Weak Monsoon keeps mini Summer going over the plains of TN
Adebe Bikila is a name that is possibly not as famous as Jesse Owens if one were to look at Olympic legends of the yesteryears. Bikila was the first Ethiopian Olympic Medalist winning gold in Men’s Marathon at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics. During the 1960 Rome Olympics not he broke the world record while…
Plains of Tamil Nadu to see a return of mini Summer
Southwest Monsoon got off to a strong start this season covering almost half of the country before MOK. The monsoon surge was so strong over the past few days even the leeward plains of Tamil Nadu saw rains. Yesterday Chennai and suburbs saw multiple spell of rains from afternoon to late evening. This spell also…