Denizens had a taste of both ends of the weather here on Wednesday. They woke up to a cloudy sky and experienced a steady drizzle for about two hours from 6 a.m and as the sun reached it highest point, the friendly clouds vanished and temperature soared past 36 degree Celsius.
Welcoming the first drizzle of monsoon, many ventured out to enjoy the shower on their two-wheelers and a few even pulled out their raincoats and umbrellas from the attic, but the joy was short-lived, as the city soon turned faithful to its sobriquet ‘Blazewada’.
This is a common phenomenon during monsoon, said the former Head of Department of Metrology and Oceanography, Andhra University, OSRU Bhanu Kumar.
According to the professor, the south-west monsoon or the summer monsoon has already reached Vijayawada and this year it has come early by about two days. “The normal time is June 6, but it is ahead by about two days,” he added.
A senior weatherman from the Met department said this year the monsoon had arrived with a bang. “There is the presence of prominent upper air troughs both over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The troughs are expected to mature into low pressures in the coming days and this indicates that the monsoon is going to be good this year,” he observed.
On the blazing mercury at Vijayawada, professor Bhanu Kumar said the city was land-locked and heat was trapped between the hills. It lacks the land and sea breeze effect, as in Machilipatnam or Visakhapatnam.
