Rain likely to continue in light spells in Chennai

CHENNAI: After late night thunderstorms in the past few days took Chennai by surprise, experts said the city is likely to continue to get light spells for the next two days but it not may be widespread.
IMD has forecast, “the sky condition is likely to be generally cloudy. Light rain is likely to occur in some areas. Maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 36?C and 26°C,” in the city for the next 48 hours.
On Friday evening, several localities in south Chennai including those in and around ECR, OMR and Tambaram received rainfall.
Since June 29, the city received midnight thunderstorms. On Thursday, Nungambakkam weather station recorded 12.2mm and Meenambakkam 7.3mm and on Friday, the rain intensity reduced as both the stations registered 1.1mm and 2.1mm.
The late night spells have, however, reduced the rain deficit from nearly 50% to 43% so far for the season with Chennai subdivision, including the two stations and few suburban localities, recording a total of 42.4mm against an average 74.7mm rainfall since June 1.
Experts said the thunderstorms were due to the wind convergence taking place closer to the city coast leading to convection at a time when the southwest monsoon currents are weak. Now that the westerlies have picked up and the monsoon rains are back, the city may only receive light spells.
“Chennai will continue to see hit or miss fast moving rains in the evenings and late nights,” said weather blogger Pradeep John in his update.
With the monsoon getting active on the west coast with many states like Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala to receive another round of rainfall, experts said the next phase of thunderstroms in the state is likely around mid-next week.