Chennai: Heavy rain has been lashing several parts of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry for the past 24 hours, thereby bringing down the temperature much to the relief of the people. The weather department has forecast fairly widespread rainfall to continue for the next day or two, with districts bordering the Western Ghats, like the Nilgiris, expected to receive very heavy rainfall during the period.
“The upper air cyclonic circulation, which was hovering over the southwest bay of Bengal a few days ago, has been moving across the southern peninsula and, as a result, several regions saw good rainfall,” said Mr S.R. Ramanan, director, area cyclone warning centre. Coonoor (Nilgiris district) recorded 11 cm of rainfall, while Kotagiri (also in Nilgiris range) received 8 cm of rainfall. Several southern districts like Theni, Ramanathapuram, Tiruvarur, Dindigul also saw copious amounts of rainfall, exceeding 5 cm in some places.
Presently hovering near the Lakshadweep islands, the weather system has left all southern states contented. Besides Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana also received good showers. As for the capital city of Tamil Nadu, which has seen relatively pleasant weather for the past two days, the weather official said there is a possibility of steady showers in a few localities. During the second week of May, Chennai usually sees high temperatures, with 37 degrees being recorded consistently. “However, this time round, due to the delayed arrival of westerly winds as well as a couple of weather systems developing, thereby bringing along some rain, the mercury levels so far have not shot up as much as we anticipated though the situation will change in the next few weeks,” Mr Ramanan said.
