Chennai gets heavy rain, TN to witness spells till Mar 21: RMC

CHENNAI: After Chennaiites experienced dry weather for the past few days, several areas in the city witnessed light to moderate rainfall along with thunderstorm activity on Friday due to atmospheric cyclonic circulation over the sea. The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) predicted rain for several districts of Tamil Nadu till March 21.

Many areas in the city, including Ekkatuthangal, Tondiarpet, Arumbakkam, Velachery experienced mild showers from Thursday night. Heavy showers in the morning led to water logging within a few hours and commuters found it difficult to travel due to traffic congestion in the peak hours in the morning.

"The trough from South Tamil Nadu to north Konkan now seen as a trough/wind discontinuity from Interior Tamil Nadu to central Madhya Pradesh across Rayalaseema, Telangana and Vidarbha at 0.9 km above mean sea level, and the atmospheric cyclonic circulation. So, Western Ghats, north interior districts including Erode, Krishnagiri, Tirupattur, and coastal districts of Tamil Nadu is likely to witness light to moderate rain along with thunderstorm activity till March 21," said P Senthamarai Kannan, Scientist E, RMC.

Meanwhile, for the last few days, Chennai and its suburb witnessed a surge in the maximum and minimum temperature, it recorded around 34 degree Celsius and 24 degree Celsius respectively. However, due to the showers experienced in the city it is likely to drop than usual.

A weather blogger stated, "Many parts of Tamil Nadu including Chennai, and its neighbouring districts witnessed rain. For the next 2 - 3 days the rains will occur over the East Coast of India influenced by the Westerly trough."

In the last 24 hours, Kanniyakumari received the hight amount of rainfall with 6 cm, followed by Tenkasi 5 cm, Coimbatore, Virudhunagar, Theni 4 cm rainfall each.