Thundershowers lashed many parts of the city during the early hours of Sunday, bringing in a respite from soaring day temperatures.
Several areas in and around the city received sharp showers accompanied by thunder and lightning. Power supply was disrupted in many areas for over five hours following overnight showers. This was done as a precautionary measure due to heavy rains, according to sources in TANGEDCO.
The automatic rain gauges in many areas recorded up to 4 cm of rainfall till 8.30 a.m. on Sunday. While Taramani and Anna University recorded 5 cm and 4 cm of rainfall respectively, Ennore and Hindustan University registered 3 cm of rainfall. Other weather stations in Poonamallee and Nungambakkam recorded 2 cm and Meenambakkam 1 cm of rainfall during the same period.
S. Balachandran, Deputy Director General of Meteorology said the rains occurred due to multiple factors. Besides convective activity that usually occurs during summer and moisture incursion, a trough/wind discontinuity running to south Tamil Nadu across East Madhya Pradesh and interior Karnataka brought moderate to heavy rains in many places.
Mercury level peaks
Mercury level peaked beyond the 40-degree mark at many places such as Vellore, Tiruchi, Tiruttani, Salem and Karur on Saturday. The weather stations too recorded the hottest day yet, with day temperatures escalating to 38 degrees Celsius in Meenambakkam and 36.2 degrees Celsius in Nungambakkam. The soaring temperature aided sharp spell of rains in many places, according to officials of Meteorological Department.
The same weather trend may continue for two days with light to moderate rains expected to occur over the State and Puducherry. One or two places may have heavy rains.
Chennai may have a break from hot weather till Tuesday, they added.
