Heavy rains for Ghat areas; intense heat in north coastal Tamil Nadu to continue

CHENNAI: Heavy rains are expected in the Western Ghats region of Tamil Nadu from Saturday as conditions have become favourable for further advancement of the southwest monsoon, weather office sources said.

Accordingly, heavy to very heavy rain with thunderstorms and lightning with gusty winds reaching 40-50 kmph is likely to occur at isolated places over Nilgiris, Theni, Dindigul districts and Ghat areas of Coimbatore district.

The latest weather forecast from the Regional Meteorological Centre on Saturday said that, in addition, heavy rain with thunderstorms is likely to occur over Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Tirupattur, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupur, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Kanniyakumari districts and Ghat areas of Tenkasi and Tirunelveli districts.

The report further said that high maximum temperatures, combined with high humidity, are likely to cause uncomfortable weather over the north coastal areas of Tamil Nadu.

Chennai recorded the highest maximum temperature of 40.4 degrees Celsius on Friday. Nalumukku in Tirunelveli district received the maximum rainfall of 17 cm during the last 24 hours, followed by Mylar district in Kanniyakumari, which registered 9 cm of rainfall during the same period, the report said.