After days of sweltering heat, Chennai woke up to heavy rainfall accompanied by thunder and lightning on Sunday morning, shrouding the early morning sun under layers of thick, dark clouds. The Regional Meteorological Centre on Saturday had predicted heavy rain at isolated places over Tamil Nadu while in North coastal Tamil Nadu and interior parts of the state light to moderate rain was likely.
Thunderstorms with lightning accompanied by gusty winds with speeds reaching 30 to 40 kmph are likely to occur at isolated places across the state on Monday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, thunderstorms with lightning sans the gusty winds have been predicted at isolated parts.
In Chennai, the sky condition is likely to be partly cloudy during forenoon and clear sky thereafter until Monday with maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 36 and 28 degrees Celsius respectively.
Weather blogger Pradeep John explained the series of events that lead to the sudden thunderstorms in the city. In his “damaal-dumeel” style, he wrote, “The journey of those clouds started at noon in Vizag, it came slowly down while new clouds formed at Nellore, they converged, bloomed and moved down. slept at 3.00 am. Huge thunder woke me up. what to sight, that too 2nd time in April to see such widespread red thakkalis in Chennai (sic).”
Noting that this was the second time the city was receiving thunderstorms after April 9, Pradeep also added that chances are likely for another such day within the next four days. “For Chennai, Cool Sunday !!! April 9th, April 26th, there is chance for one or two more surprise damal dumeel day like today in next 4 days,” reads his tweet.
Chennai has already recorded 18.3 mm rainfall between April 1 and April 25, which is a 48% positive departure from its normal rainfall of 12.4 mm. On the morning of April 26, Chennai has recorded 202.5 mm rainfall in total, the rainstation at Mylapore recording the most in the entire city - 48.6 mm.
At Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Vellore and Karur districts and Thiruttani districts of the state, temperature warning has been issued with maximum temperature is likely to be around 40 to 41 degree celsius. Farmers and the general public have been advised not to expose themselves to direct sunlight between 11.30 am and 3.30 pm on Sunday.