Phethai effect: Chennai shivers as mercury dips to 23 deg Celsius

“The maximum temperature recorded on Sunday was 23.7 Degree Celsius. It is the lowest recorded temperature of this month till now. This is mainly due to the prevailing system in the Bay of Bengal,” said an on-duty metrological officer.

Further, the chillness in the air is likely to continue for another couple of days due cyclonic storm ‘Phethai’ over the southwest Bay of Bengal.

This system moved further north, northwestwards at a speed of 16 kmph on Sunday. Currently, the cyclonic storm ‘Phethai’ is located off 430 km east-southeast of Chennai.

“In the next 24 hours, it is very likely to intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm. It is likely to make a landfall between Machilipatnam and Kakinada on Monday afternoon. For the next 48 hours, the city will experience light to moderate rains accompanied with a strong and gusty surface wind at times,” said S Balachandran, the deputy director general of Regional Metrological Centre.

While the other parts of the state will experience dry days till Tuesday, this will be interrupted with light to moderate rain or thundershower which will occur at isolated places, he informed.

Owing to the prevailing system, fishing operations are suspended along the coast off Andhra Pradesh since Sunday. On Monday, fishermen are advised not to venture into southwest and west central Bay of Bengal and along Andhra Pradesh, north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts.

On Sunday, the city recorded a maximum temperature of 23.7 Degree Celsius with a humidity of 74 per cent. The city will record a maximum temperature of around 27 Degree Celsius and the minimum temperature likely to be around 24 Degree Celsius. It may be recalled that city witnessed a rain deficit of 54 per cent in this monsoon.