Meenambakkam in Tamil Nadu clocks 42.7 degree Celsius

CHENNAI: At 42.7 deg C, Meenambakkam recorded the highest temperature in the state on Tuesday, hinting that the southern suburbs of the city experienced the hottest day of the year. The mercury also crossed 40 degrees C mark for a third day in a row.
On Tuesday, Nungambakkam recorded 41. 8 deg C and the temperatures in both the observatories were four degree celsius above normal. Coupled with above 60% humidity, people felt the heat as if it was 50 degrees. While IMD blamed it on the delayed onset of seabreeze, private forecasters and bloggers called the temperature spike a heatwave.
IMD has forecast temperatures to cross 40 degrees at least for the next two days. Bloggers said mercury may touch 40 degrees on multiple days till the end of May.
N Senthamarai Kannan, director, regional weather forecasting centre, IMD had said multiple factors like change in wind direction caused by cyclone Mocha, the absence of wind-discontinuity which brought cloudy weather and occasional showers and no supportive mechanism for convection had caused the temperature spike in the city.
"The temperature rise on Tuesday was due to a delayed seabreeze which arrived at 2pm. We cannot term it heatwave because one station recorded very high temperatures. Also the temperatures must be above 4.5 degree celsius continuously for two days to be called a heatwave," he said.
The city and the suburbs may see temperatures hovering at a maximum of around 41 deg C and a minimum of around 29-30 deg C for the next 48 hours.
"We can call this heatwave. It may continue for another two or three days. After that, the northwesterly winds will change to northeasterly winds and there may be some relief," said Mahesh Palawat, chief meteorologist, Skymet Weather.
While Tuesday's temperature in Nungambakkam was the highest since 2021 in May, the observatory recorded 41.8 deg C on May 21, 2020, a year when it registered above 40 degrees three days in a row. In May 2017, temperatures crossed the 40-degree mark on at least 10 days including consecutive days from May 15 to 19, experts said.
Blogger Pradeep John in his online post said temperatures crossed 40 degrees in many suburban areas like Vanagaram with 42.9 deg C, Tambaram, 42. 8 deg C, Puzhal 41.5 deg C, Madhavaram 41.5 deg C and Taramani 41.1 deg C. "Models show temperatures to cross 40 degrees on many days till the end of this month," he said.