rains bring cheer to Chennaiites ............... it is raining now !

Every summer you hear this cliché ...... ‘that mercury is shooting up’ ~ and this summer is going to be much tougher than it has been.... in our younger days – we used to play in hot sun in beach – some of us without footwear even ........ the sands of Marina would be so hot.... there used to be a match starting around 0615 am going on till 10 am ......... evening match would start around 0330 pm ... in between – some who could defy their parents would play another one in peak noon ! – now when we step out for a while in summer, we return back telling that it is horrible !

There is oft repeated phrase ‘It's a dog's life’ – it means that life is hard and unpleasant.  There is another phrase associated with dog – ‘dog’s day’…. dog days refers to the sultry days of summer. In the Northern Hemisphere, the dog days of summer are most commonly experienced in the months of July and August; in the Southern Hemisphere, they typically occur in January and February.  Romans associated this with  star Sirius, the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog).  According to some reports,  Romans sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather. Not everything associated with dog is bad perhaps…….

This morning Chennaites woke up pleasantly .... it is raining, yes rains – summer rains ! .... yesterday The Hindu reported  that Chennaiites may escape severe water shortage for a few more months. Sufficient resources in the Veeranam tank in Cuddalore district and Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh will help the city sustain piped supply on alternate days. With the groundwater level falling to a depth of under 5 metres in the city following lack of rains, more people have come to depend on Metrowater supply. The news that adequate resources exist in the two reservoirs will bring some relief to residents. “We will be able to manage the water supply till August with the existing resources and Krishna water,” said an official of the Water Resources Department (WRD).  The water levels at the city reservoirs, which were in a precarious state for several months, are rising due to a steady inflow of Krishna water. Poondi reservoir, the prime storage point, is receiving nearly 370 cubic feet per second of water (cusecs). “We are expecting an increase to 500 cusecs from next week. It will also help us to step up storage in the water body,” said the official. Chennai has received about 2,800 million cubic feet (mcft) of Krishna water since January, which translates to three months of water supply. On the other end, Veeranam tank is also brimming with inflow from the Mettur dam. A WRD official said that instead of filling it to its capacity, the water level is being maintained at 1,067 mcft to minimise loss by evaporation. A 230-km-long- pipeline from the tank transports about 180 million litres of water a day (mld) to Chennai.

There is news that a deep depression over east-central Bay of Bengal, which moved westwards and lay centred about 520 km south-east of Paradip in Odisha on Sunday, is likely to take the shape of a cyclonic storm. The system would intensify further into a cyclonic storm and move slowly west-north westwards by on Sunday, the meteorological centre here said.   Under its impact, rain or thunder shower would occur at a few places over coastal Odisha and one or two places over interior Odisha by Monday, sources said. Distant Cautionary signal number one (DC—I) are kept hoisted at Paradip and Gopalpur ports in view of the system which is likely to cause strong and gusty surface wind speed reaching 45 to 55 Kmph from north—easterly direction off Odisha coast. Fishermen have been asked not to venture into the sea, the met office said.

So it is raining, and people now would start complaining that it inconveniences going to Office and moving around ! ............ here is INSAT photo courtesy : IMD

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

5^th May 2014 06.30 am.