Wet weather over the State may ease heatwave conditions for a week

Weather systems, which lie closer to Tamil Nadu region, are likely to bring about thundershowers over the State till Sunday. The Regional Meteorological Centre has forecast fairly widespread rain from Wednesday

Scattered rain, which will cover more districts from Wednesday, is likely to keep the soaring mercury levels in check in the State till Sunday, May 19. With heavy rain predicted, districts along the Western Ghats and interior parts of Tamil Nadu, which were reeling under blistering heat, may get a brief respite till the weekend.

Weather systems, which lie closer to Tamil Nadu region, are likely to bring about thundershowers over the State till Sunday.

The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) has forecast fairly widespread rain to cover many places of the State from Wednesday, with showers of light to moderate intensity and gusty winds reaching speeds of up to 40 kmph.

Heavy rain, predicted to occur over one or two places in seven districts on Tuesday, is likely to spread to more districts, such as Namakkal and Salem, and the delta region from Thursday, May 16. North interior parts of the State, which experienced prolonged heatwave conditions, also have good chances of heavy rain.

The prevailing wet spell has helped ease heatwave conditions in several places. After many days this summer, the State did not record a hot day on Monday, and the maximum temperature remained below 40 degrees Celsius.

Erode recorded 39.4 degrees Celsius, which was the highest day temperature recorded in the State on Monday. Places such as Madurai, Thoothukudi, Tirupattur, and Chennai registered slightly below normal temperature. Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam in Chennai recorded 36 degrees Celsius and 37 degrees Celsius respectively.

Rain lashed various parts of the State till Monday evening. Periyakulam in Theni district received nearly 4 cm of rain and Valparai, Coimbatore, Palayamkottai, Erode, and Yercaud received 2 cm of rain. Many other places such as Ramanathapuram, Tiruchi, Namakkal, and Tiruvarur also got light rain.

While the mercury level may jump two or three degrees Celsius above average in one or two pockets of the north interior parts of the State till Wednesday, the RMC has predicted that the maximum temperature is likely to remain close to normal or dip below normal over the State on May 16 and 17.

P. Senthamarai Kannan, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, Chennai, said a cyclonic circulation that was lying over the Comorin area and a trough extending from it would trigger rain. The position of the weather system would decide on the rain intensity and spatial coverage.

Rainfall for the past few days has marginally shrunk the rain gap in Tamil Nadu. The State has received 4.2 cm of rain, which is short by 52% for the season. Officials said Chennai too had the possibility of light rain till Wednesday.