Ladies and Gentlemen its that time of the year when we can say the Real Chennai Summer is all set to arrive. While all these days the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu including Chennai were pretty much insulated thanks to the surface level Easterlies that moderated day time temperatures keeping it under check. This is all set to change bringing onto us the Real Chennai Summer. Over the last month or so we have had the temperatures touching 38 occasionally at Meenambakkam. These spikes were occasional and short in duration without any continuous trend over few days to get seriously affected. Now the dreaded Chennai Summer is ready to show its true face to us.
As one can observe from the chart above during the period October to End April / Early May the winds are predominantly from the East thereby keeping the temperature under check thanks to the Pseudo Sea Breeze that blows most of the time over Chennai. This is the time that coincides with the Northeast Monsoon season as well during Oct. – December. Come April / May the country gets ready for Southwest Monsoon that also heralds the onset of the Westerly Breeze for Chennai, the time for Real Chennai Summer. During the day with westerly winds the land heat gets radiated towards the coast increasing the temperatures & discomfort. Temperatures will raise for most part of the day till possibly post noon. The onset of Sea Breeze depending on the time & strength holds the key for the moderation of temperature. While the winds are not completely Westerly yet we are seeing signs towards the change in wind patterns.
After a few days of lull in heat we are likely to see temperatures start to increase from today with Chennai likely to see day time temperatures hotter by about 3 /4 degrees compared to normal. We can start seeing temperatures inch towards 37 /38 degrees in the city while suburbs could be closer to 40. The temperatures in this spell is expected to peak around Saturday. Most parts of Tamil Nadu is expected to see increase in temperatures as well compared to the last few days.