Wet weather is on the cards this week for many parts of the State. Several interior parts are likely to get light to moderate rainfall over the next three days.
This will come as a respite to places that experienced dry weather conditions last week. During the past 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Monday, several interior and southern parts of the State received moderate to heavy rainfall. Marandahalli in Dharmapuri district and Rayakottah in Krishnagiri district recorded 7 cm of rainfall, the day’s highest.
Officials of the Meteorological Department said heavy rain is likely to occur in one or two places in districts such as Salem, Erode, Nilgiris and Namakkal till Wednesday. Chennai, which experienced high humidity levels, is likely to receive thunderstorms on Tuesday. The city saw an increase in temperature because of dry weather conditions.
A north-south trough running along the Tamil Nadu coast and convective activity, which follows an intense period of heat during daytime, would trigger thunderstorms over the State, they added.
S. Balachandran, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, said the monsoon trough was moving towards the foothills of Himalayas. Whenever a monsoon trough moves away, thunderstorm activity gets more active over the southern peninsular region. “We expect another upper air circulation to sustain the rainfall activity. The maximum temperature in Chennai may decrease later this week.”
On Monday, the city recorded 36 degree Celsius, which is slightly above the normal day temperature.
The Meteorological department forecasts a cloudy sky and the maximum temperature to be around 36 degree Celsius in Chennai. Some areas may experience light rain till Wednesday.
Since June 1, during the southwest monsoon, Tamil Nadu has received an average of 28.4 cm of rainfall against its normal of 22.3 cm, which is in excess by 27% till August 31, according to the department.