Chennaiites may have to brace themselves for some shadow play by the weather over the next four days. While the days may be warm, the city is expected to get sharp showers during evenings.
For the past few days, residents have been experiencing inclement weather and various parts of the city have been receiving rain almost every evening or night. However, officials of the Meteorological department note that such sudden showers follow a peaking of temperature during the day. S.R.Ramanan, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said there was no weather system in the Bay of Bengal. “It is common for the State to get convective rain during this time. While most parts of the State will get isolated rain for next few days, Chennai may receive light to moderate rain this week,” he said.
On Monday, Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam recorded a maximum temperature 34.6 degree Celsius and 34.4 degree Celsius respectively. This July has been a wet month as the city nearly received 205.9 mm of rainfall, which is double the amount of rainfall it usually gets. Similarly, Meenambakkam recorded 134.7 mm of rainfall in July.
The rainfall in July had contributed majorly to the Southwest monsoon that set in June. So far, Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam have received 237.8 mm and 252.1 mm of rainfall respectively since June.
S.P.Thampi, deputy director general of meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai: “The Southwest monsoon has been progressing well and July’s rainfall has helped boost the season’s average rainfall close to normal in the State and Chennai. However, the monsoon is expected to become subdued after August 15.” Though August has had a good start with rain and records 140 mm of rainfall, officials note that the rain in the next few days will decide on how good actually monsoon activity has been to the city.
