CHENNAI: The continuous evening showers, some of which battered the city in the last few days, broke a record after Nungambakkam weather station recorded a total 220.5mm rainfall until Tuesday, the highest for July in 13 years, even as there is still one week left for the month to end.
The previous highest was 243.9mm in July 2007. While weathermen said there may be a dry spell for the next few days, bloggers said rainfall may pick up again by next week.
For the next 48 hours, IMD has forecast sky conditions to be partly cloudy with maximum and minimum temperatures around 35°C and 26°C.
According to IMD’s rain records, Nungambakkam has registered 220.5mm since July 1 and 275.2mm (141.4mm excess) since the beginning of the season on June 1. Meenambakkam registered 121.3mm since July1 and 207.4mm since June 1, which is 54.8mm surplus. The all-time record was set in 2001 when the month of July saw 269.8mm. Chennai subdivision, which includes Nungambakkam, Meenambakkam and the rain gauges of IMD across the city, has registered 50% excess rainfall since June 1 with 208.4mm against a nor mal 138.7mm.
“Last week, Nungambakkam recorded more rainfall than Meenambakkam for at least two days. It was not just because of westerlies pushing moisture towards the east coast but there were also south-easterly winds bringing moisture near the coast. This led to convective rainfall,” said N Puviarasan, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, IMD. "There may be isolated short spells in the coming days in the city but it will be mostly dry," he added.
On Tuesday evening, some parts of the city like Aminjikarai, Choolaimedu and Chetpet received some drizzles in the evening and late in the evening.
Blogger Pradeep John said the widespread evening spells on July 17 and 18 left 137.6mm rainfall in Nungambakkam, which is the wettest 48-hours in July in the last 200 years.
“It is the all-time highest 48-hour rainfall since 1813,” he said. “It may be a dry spell for the next few days. There is, however, some scope for evening spells again around July 25,” he added.
