CHENNAI: The worst of
summer
may be over for the city. Weathermen believe the present
weather
pattern of near normal day temperatures and late evening
thunderstorms
may continue in the coming days. While IMD has forecast light to moderate rainfall with thunderstorms for the next two days, bloggers said there are chances for evening spells to continue for the rest of the month.
Since June 1, the day temperatures have been either below normal or near normal. On Friday, Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam recorded 36.4°C and 37°C, around 0.8°C and 0.5°C below normal. The last 10 years have seen the highest maximum temperatures between 39.6°C and 42.3°C. The all-time highest day temperature was 43.3°C recorded on June 3, 1948.
Humidity, which was at nearly 75% in both the observatories at 8.30am on Friday, dropped to around 47% by 5.30pm.
The thunderstorms in the evening and night hours in the last few days have left 12cm and 14cm in both the observatories, which is more than the monthly average rainfall of 6cm.
For the next 48 hours, the city and the suburbs are likely to receive light to moderate rainfall with thunderstorms and lightning over some areas during the evening or night hours. The maximum temperature may be around 36°C and minimum temperature around 27-28°C. Skies may be partly cloudy.
“The thunderstorms are due to the convergence of opposing winds and the storms are steered towards the city by the westerlies,” an official said. The city normally gets rainfall when the monsoon is not active over the west coast. At present, the southwest monsoon is not active over Kerala, but weather watchers said monsoon rain may be back over the west coast around June 20.
Blogger Pradeep John said monsoon activity over Kerala may not bring any change in the thunderstorm activity over the city. “Summer is effectively over. As of now, the city may continue to get evening thunderstorms every day,” he said.
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