No doubt Chennai heaved a huge collective sigh of relief when the first showers this summer beat down on the hot, parched earth, on Wednesday.
The sudden swing in temperature brought great cheer, as did the rain — a rarity for April. For the first time in 70 years, Meenambakkam received a whopping 103.2 mm of rainfall on Wednesday, breaking all previous records.
Residents woke up to a pleasant monsoon-like day as an upper air cyclonic circulation over the Lakshadweep area brought good rain to many parts of the State from Tuesday night.
However, the weather observatory at Nungambakkam received only 2.6 mm of rainfall between 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m.
The prevailing weather system brought down Wednesday temperature to 29.3 degrees Celsius — five degrees less than the average temperature for April.
Several areas, particularly in south Chennai, witnessed heavy downpour during the morning hours thanks to a cloud burst-like phenomenon.
Rains lashed several places in the city, including Taramani, Velachery, Guindy and Adyar, and in just an hour, some places recorded nearly 100 mm of rainfall, which is, again, rare for the season.
S.R. Ramanan of Area Cyclone Warning Centre, Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, said moisture drawn from the Bay of Bengal, across the State, brought rains to many parts.
While the northern districts, including Chennai, will get rains till Thursday, the southern region of Tamil Nadu will continue to have rains for a few more days.
Summer rains are usually associated with the dynamics that follow a period of intense heat. But, this was not one of the typical weather systems that occur at noon.
“This type of organised weather activity is rare, and rains are more likely in May than in April. In summer, areas away from the coast get more rains,” said Y.E.A. Raj, former deputy director general of meteorology.
Weather blogger Pradeep John said the interaction of the cyclonic circulation with another system over the Bay of Bengal and constant moisture incursion brought heavy downpour to the city.
K. Ehsan Ahmed, who operates a private weather website, said, in the last 15 years, rainfall over the city crossed 20 mm only twice in April. In 2001 and 2005, Nungambakkam recorded 83 mm and 60 mm, respectively, in April.
| Pleasant surprise |
|---|
| An upper air cyclonic circulation over Lakshadweep resulted in heavy rainfall over many parts of the State on Tuesday-Wednesday. |
| For the first time in 70 years, Meenambakkam received a whopping 103.2 mm of rainfall on Wednesday. |
| Chennai recorded its previous highest volume of rains, 100.3 mm, on April 12, 1951, in Nungambakkam, and 96.3 mm, on April 2, 1945, in Meenambakkam. |
| Normally, it rains for less than a day during April in Chennai. |
| On an average, Nungambakkam records 9.8 mm during April and Meenambakkam receives 14.9 mm On Wednesday, several areas, including Taramani (115 mm), Guindy (53 mm) and Kolapakkam (57 mm), received heavy rainfall. |
