Pouring summer rain takes Chennai by surprise

CHENNAI: Even as summer rainfall kept the day temperatures in the city under check, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a low pressure to form over Bay of Bengal next week. The agency has also forecast more rainfall in the city and the suburbs for the next two days. Private forecasters said the intensity of the rainfall may reduce both over coastal and interior parts of the state.
S Balachandran, deputy director general, Regional Meteorological Centre, said a cyclonic circulation was likely to develo p over southeast Bay of Bengal on May 6 and under its influence, a low pressure area was likely to form over the same region by May 7 or 8. “The system will form very far away from the coast. We have to wait and see if it intensifies and the direction it travels to know if it will bring rainfall for us. We will be monitoring it,” he said.
For the next 48 hours, the city and the suburbs are likely to receive light to moderate rainfall over some areas. The skies are likely to be partly cloudy. Maximum and minimum temperaturesare likel y to be around 33-34º C and 26-27º C.
The rainfall would be due to a trough/wind discontinuity, which runs from southwest Madhya Pradesh to south Tamil Nadu across Marathwada and Interior Karnataka at 0. 9 km above mean sea level.
Wind discontinuity is a line where there will be a sharp change in the speed and direction of easterlies and weste rlies. On Monday night, many parts of the city received intense spells of rain. Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam weather stations recorded 3cm and 4cm rainfall.
On Tuesday, there were only light showe rs in a few places in the city, but the cloudy skies brought the temperatures significantly down to 31. 9º C and 32. 4º C in the two city observatories, which were four degrees and five degrees below normal.
“Coastal Tamil Nadu, interior Tamil Nadu and Kerala will see rain for the next two days. These showers will be moderate with isolated heavy spells exp ected over the region,” said Skymet Weather in its online post.