CHENNAI: The small temple town on the Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border -- Thiruttani -- on Tuesday recorded the hottest day in the State since 2003. Popular for its Murugan Temple and birthplace of the first Indian President Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the town experienced a scorching 45.5 C.
The all-time record high is also held by Thiruttani, which registered 48.6C on May 29, 2003.
Having no luxury of sea breeze which usually moderates the temperature, Thiruttani suffered from an extreme heat wave. Meanwhile, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) issued a heatwave warning for the next two days in 23 districts of north Tamil Nadu, including Chennai.
The Met department official website, which has database on weather extremes, showed that only two weather stations ever recorded 45C in the State. Chennai recorded 45 C on May 31, 2003 and Vellore on May 22 and May 31, 2003. However, the Met office has no official record for Thiruttani. The year 2003 is considered to be the worst drought year in recent history and now parallels are being drawn with 2017. The temperatures are also rising steadily, reaching record levels in coastal and northern districts of the State.
K Balachandran, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, told the Express that all the weather observatory stations were not set up at the same time. “Thiruttani weather station must have been set up a little later. We don’t have the data for it. But, 45.5 C is too extreme. However, the place located close to Chittoor district is always right up the chart in terms of high temperature. We have to check the average temperature there to say whether 45.5 C is a record or not,” he said.
However, Pradeep John, who is a passionate weather blogger keeping record of years of data, said Thiruttani on May 29, 2003 recorded 48.6 C, which was an all-time record for the State. Similarily, Karur and Tirupattur also recorded over 45 degrees on a few occasions in the past. “But after 2003, Thiruttani’s 45.5C on Tuesday is the hottest day,” John said.
YEA Raj, former deputy director general of meteorology, said it was common for Thiruttani to record 44C or 45C in peak summer. “Sometimes it happens because it has no luxury of sea breeze as in Chennai, where it moderates the heat just on time. Also, the high solar radiation levels warms up the surface,”
he explained.
Chennai breaches 40 degrees again
For the second consecutive day, Nungambakkam station in the city breached 40 C. On Tuesday, it recorded 40.5 C, which was three degrees above normal.
Meenambakkam station recorded 41.9 C, which was 3.5 degrees above normal. Also, the city night time temperature was not comforting either. It stood at 31 C, which was 2.9 C above normal. Although some interior parts of the State got isolated rainfall, harsh heat wave has swept across majority of districts. Melur in Madurai district received 7 cm of rain, which was the highest.