Tamil Nadu: Brace for surge in temperature, say weather experts

CHENNAI: The scorching heat that Chennai and several parts of Tamil Nadu have been battling with is likely to get worse in the coming days, said the Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai.

According to the forecast that the weathermen issued on Saturday, uncomfortable weather is likely to prevail over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal.

The alert from the weather department said the temperature may see a surge between 2-3 degree Celsius than the normal temperature at the isolated places over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal.

Concurring with this forecast, weather blogger K Srikanth, who operates popular social media handle Chennai Rains, opined that as the wind from western side gets stronger, the temperature in Chennai would go up. Making matters worse would be the absence of sea breeze in the evening.

The data released by the RMC said Madurai airport recorded the highest temperature of 40.2 degree Celsius on Saturday. Tiruchy airport (39.1° C) and Thanjavur (39° C) also recorded high maximum temperature.

In the case of the two weather stations in Chennai, Meenambakkam (airport) recorded 38.1° C while it was 37.7 at Nungambakkam.

The highest variation from normal was at Karur Paramathi, where the mercury stood at 37.5° C as against the normal of 33.7° C, a departure of 3.8° C.

Ooty recorded the lowest maximum temperature of 17.8° C, which was lower than the normal temperature of 18.5° C.

On the other hand, Tamil Nadu received 22 per cent higher rainfall in this Southwest monsoon season than the normal level. On an average, the State receives 46.5 mm rainfall in the month of June. However, it was 56.7mm rainfall so far this year.

Districts along the Western Ghats across south India, especially Coimbatore in the case of Tamil Nadu, have witnessed good rainfall this season. The Cauvery river has also recorded substantial inflow in the recent days due to heavy rainfall in the catchment areas in the neighbouring states.