CHENNAI: Even as the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) warned of heavy rain and thunderstorms across several interior districts over the next five days, intense summer continued to grip Tamil Nadu on Friday, with temperatures crossing 42 degrees Celsius in some places.
Vellore, at 42.5 degrees C, recorded the highest maximum temperature in the state earlier in the day. Erode touched 41.4 degrees C, while Chennai recorded 40.8 degrees C and Tiruttani crossed the 40 degrees C mark at 40.5 degrees C.
Several stations recorded temperatures well above seasonal averages. Tondi logged a departure of +3.3 degrees C above normal, while Thoothukudi was 3 degrees C above normal. Karur Paramathi recorded 39 degrees C, nearly 3 degrees above normal. The RMC has issued a heatwave warning for isolated places over coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal.
Chennai is expected to continue witnessing maximum temperatures of 40-41 degrees C along with hot and humid conditions over the next two days.
At the same time, weather conditions are turning favourable for interior districts due to an upper air cyclonic circulation over the southeast Arabian Sea and a trough extending towards south Tamil Nadu.
Heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds reaching 40-50 kmph has been forecast at Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Tirupattur and Vellore.
The rain will spread out to districts such as the Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode, Namakkal, Madurai, Theni and Dindigul over the coming days.
The weather department said temperatures are likely to gradually ease over interior Tamil Nadu from May 24 onward, although coastal districts may continue to experience uncomfortable weather due to high humidity.
The heatwave conditions in Tamil Nadu come amid a broader spell of extreme temperatures across the country. The India Meteorological Department on Friday said heatwave to severe heatwave conditions are likely to persist over parts of northwest, central, east and peninsular India over the next six to seven days. Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are also expected to witness heatwave conditions on different days through the week.