CHENNAI: With the probable cyclonic storm Phethai expected to skip Chennai, the city may not get much rain as weathermen have forecast a moderate spell against the earlier prediction of a heavy rain over the weekend.The IMD said the system which will intensify from a deep depression to cyclonic storm and into a severe cyclonic storm thereafter, is likely to make a landfall between Ongole and Kakinada in Andhara Pradesh on Monday afternoon.IMD’s regional weather inference said the deep depression over southeast Bay of Bengal was about 930km southeast of Chennai and 1,090km southeast of Machilipatnam Friday afternoon. “It is very likely to intensify further into a cyclonic storm during next 24 hours and into a severe cyclonic storm in subsequent 24 hours,” the official forecaster said.S Balachandran said it may bring light rain to Chennai on Sunday afternoon and the intensity may increase slightly by Monday. “The current scenario shows the intensity of rainfall to be moderate in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur, as the outer bands of the system is over that region. It may change depending on the movement and the size of the storm,” he said.Earlier on Thursday, meteorologists predicted a heavy spell over the city even as the storm was gathering strength over the Bay of Bengal. But, as the system moves closer to the land, meteorologists are observing further changes in its strength and the amount of rainfall it may bring.Weather experts said there still may be a few heavy showers over some areas of north coastal Tamil Nadu as models show that the system may travel close to Chennai before shifting up north. “But, much of the heavy and very heavy spell would be over southern coastal Andhra Pradesh ,” said Mahesh Palawat, chief meteorologist, Skymet.With sky condition likely to be generally cloudy in the city on Saturday, there may be squally winds reaching speeds of 45-55kmph gusting to 65 kmph over north Tamil Nadu as rains begin.

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