Met: Rain breaks hot spell in Chennai, to continue till Nov 12
Chennai and its adjoining districts received isolated heavy rainfall on Thursday that was forecast to continue but with reduced intensity until November 12
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After a stretch of hot days, Chennai and its adjoining districts received isolated heavy rainfall on Thursday that was forecast to continue but with reduced intensity until November 12, officials from the regional meteorological centre (RMC) in Chennai said. Chennai and 25 districts across Tamil Nadu were on orange alert on Thursday.
Since October 1, Chennai and Tamil Nadu have received excessive rainfall of 7% and 13% excess rainfall respectively during this north east monsoon season, an official said. The northeast monsoon brings an average of 45 cm rain to Tamil Nadu which is 48% of its annual rainfall, and average of 87 cm to Chennai which is 63% of the annual rainfall for the capital city. This year, the monsoon arrived on October 15, said weathermen.
Thursday’s rains did not create any havoc but their on and off spell offered some respite from the heat over the last few weeks in the city. It was brought by a cyclonic circulation over central parts of south Bay of Bengal that was about 3.1 km above mean sea level. And a trough runs from the Gulf of Mannar across the cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal, the RMC said.
Thunderstorms with lightning are likely to occur at one or two places over Tamil Nadu and, the RMC said adding that there will be isolated heavy rainfall in various places until November 12.
For Chennai and its adjoining districts such as Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Thiruvallur, “for next 24 hours the sky condition is likely to be generally cloudy,” said deputy director of RMC, P Senthamarai Kannan.
“Moderate to heavy rain with thunderstorms and lightning is likely to occur in some areas. Maximum temperature is likely to be around 29°C and Minimum temperature is likely to be around 25°C.”
On Thursday, Madurai airport recorded the highest maximum temperature of 35.2° C while Erode district recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 18.8°C in Tamil Nadu.