CHENNAI: The city residents can expect respite from the scorching summers as the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) forecasts light rainfall for the city and its suburbs on Sunday. The met department also predicts partly cloudy days.

The regional meteorological department, on Saturday, stated in a release that the city's maximum temperature will be around 38-39°C, sky conditions will be partly cloudy and light rain is likely to occur in some areas of the city and suburbs.

The maximum temperatures were above normal by 2-3°C at isolated places over Tamil Nadu. Light to moderate rain is expected in a few places. For the next couple of days, heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over the Nilgiris, ghat areas of Coimbatore and Tirunelveli, Theni, Tenkasi, Virudhunagar, Madurai, Dindigul and Karur, the release said.

Also, light to moderate rain in a few places with thunderstorms and lightning in one or two places is likely to occur over Tamil Nadu and Puducherry until May 9.

In the last 24 hours, Karur Paramathi recorded the highest maximum temperature of 40°C, and Dharmapuri recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 21.7°C in Tamil Nadu. Maximum temperatures of 38 - 39°C were observed in Vellore, Erode, Tiruchy, Madurai, Chennai and Tiruttani.