Chennai might have gone to bed on a very warm Sunday night, but woke up to a pleasant weather condition on Monday morning.
Rain, which lashed several parts of the city on Sunday night, brought down the soaring mercury levels - which were nearing the 40s - to the more bearable mid-thirties.
The rain that pelted several places across the State was brought about by a tropical storm, Cyclone Mahasen, looming over the Bay of Bengal that had given rise to a massive cloud patch over the Bay and over Tamil Nadu and southern parts of Andhra Pradesh.
Officials at the Meteorological Department credited the temperature drop to the tropical cyclone, which was 900 km south-east of Chennai two days ago, and is now making its way to Bangladesh.
It lay about 650 kilo metres off the Chennai coast.
The maximum temperature in the city, which touched 39.6 degrees Celsius on Sunday, dropped by about three degrees to 36.5 on Monday, thanks to the precipitation.
Even the minimum temperature, which on Sunday was 29.9 degrees Celsius, is expected to register a similar drop.
Various parts of the city and Tamil Nadu, too, received the showers on Monday, curtailing the effects of the ‘Kathri Veyil’ (peak summer) by some margin.
Deputy Director of Meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, Dr Y E A Raj, explained that this cloud patch has now all but disappeared.
“The cyclone had experienced a recurve, and is now progressing in an easterly direction.
Rain and thundershowers may be experienced in an isolated manner over parts of Tamil Nadu over the next couple of days,” he said.
Dr Raj also added that there was a distant possibility that ‘Mahasen’ could trigger the South-West monsoon.
Offering a perspective into the phenomenon, the director of the Regional Meteorological Centre said that the rains were entirely normal and were of light impact, while attributing it to convection.
The cloud formation, Dr Raj stated, occurred over coastal south Andhra Pradesh.
“Rains in isolation are expected every month. It is just that when it happens are people taken by surprise.”