Heat may take a break as weatherman forecasts rain, overcast sky for 2 days

An official from the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai, said that over the next two days, the sky condition would remain generally cloudy. “There will be a possibility of development of thunder clouds by late evening or night. Light rain can be expected. Maximum temperature will be 36 degrees Celsius and minimum temperature will be 26 degrees Celsius,” said the official, adding that only Ghat areas – such as Theni, Nilgiri, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli – would get heavy rains over the next two days. 

Weather blogger K Srikanth said that these thunderstorms normally occur when the monsoon is weak. The expert pointed out that in the previous year, the city received good rains during the South West monsoon. “The annual average during south west monsoon between June - September is 45 cm. Till date, we have received 20 cm at Chennai Airport and 23 cm in Nungambakkam. We still have time to make up the annual average – and even surpass it,” said the blogger, who posts at Chennai Rains – Chennai’s Own Meteorological Kaleidoscope. 

Srikanth added that the rains were occurring daily, but the intensity was not high. “This time, we are getting more days of rains but not intense spells. As Chennai is in the rain shadow region, we typically don’t get South West monsoon rains, but thunderstorms triggered by waves due to sea breeze movement or convergence or discontinuity of winds,” explained the weather blogger.