It is that time of the year when the talk of the town is always on Heat & Sun among common public. While not denying this is summer time one of the key reasons why Heat becomes the universal talk among people of Tamil Nadu is the prevailing Agni Naktshathiram or Kathiri Veyyil period a time which is supposedly the hottest period as per astrology. It is an alltogether different matter that the transit of Sun from South to North means places along the West Coast like Kerala see early summer around March / early April along with parts of South TN. While places like Chennai typically sees its hottest period after the return of seasonal Westerlies.
So far this year has been relatively kind on the heat front for most parts of Tamil Nadu including Chennai. The IMD observatory at Chennai AP has recorded 38ºC only once while Nungambakkam is yet to record even 37ºC. Tiruchirappalli AP is the only place in the state so far to cross 41ºC with only Salem & Karur Paramathi recording 40ºC among mainline IMD observatories of the state. Today once again the temperatures in the interiors are likely to stay around 38/39ºC with one or two places touching 40ºC. With Southerly winds dominating coastal areas will once again see warm and humid temperatures with places like Chennai seeing max temperatures in the region of 35/36ºC.
This pattern of Southerlies dominating could mean some parts of Delta & south coastal TN could see sharp showers / light rains in one or two places while places along the Western Ghats & Kerala continue to see moderate thunderstorm activity. Rains are likley to stay around Kerala & along the Ghats for most part of this week.
We will reserve the last bit of today’s post to the “Elephant in the Room”. The persisting Low Pressure in Bay of Bengal who is now showing signs of becoming a “அழையா விருந்தாளி”. It appears it is going to also behave like our overstaying relative with no immeidate signs seen in the change in status. Models continue to diverge in what the future lies for this LPA which has started to eat awaya pre monsoon thunderstorm time over Peninsular India in particular Interior Tamil Nadu.