CHENNAI: A total of 27 districts in Tamil Nadu, including Chennai and its neighborhood, are under the grip of a heat wave, with maximum temperatures likely to remain 4-6 degrees Celsius above normal, announced the Regional Meteorological Centre here on Friday.
The mean temperature for Chennai for the month of April is 34.5 degrees Celsius. However, the city's Nungambakkam automatic weather station clocked a sizzling 41.6 degrees Celsius at around 1.15 pm on Friday. It was the first time Chennai's day time temperature breached the 40-degree mark this summer.
Not just Nungambakkam, the automatic weather stations in West Tambaram, Meenambakkam and Madhavaram also registered temperatures of 41.8, 41.3 and 41.1 degrees Celsius on Friday afternoon, as per official data. The hottest places in the state are Erode, Vellore, Karur and Tiruttani. In fact, Erode with a temperature of over 43 degrees Celsius has been among the five hottest places in the country for the past few days.
N Puviarasan, director of Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said heat wave conditions are likely to prevail in most districts of Tamil Nadu till April 4. Chennai, Kancheepuram, Chengalpet, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur, Tiruvallur, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Cuddalore, Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Namakkal, Karur, Tiruchirapalli, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Madurai, Sivagangai, Virudhunagar, Pudukottai will experience 4-6 degrees Celsius above normal maximum temperature.
From April 5, heat wave conditions will be limited to a few interior districts like Dharmapuri, Karur, Salem, Namakkal, Krishnagiri, Dindigul, Tiruppur, Erode and Coimbatore districts, where the maximum temperature is likely to be 4 to 5 degrees Celsius above normal.
Weather blogger Pradeep John said the spike in mercury was due to hot winds blowing from the Cuddapah, Rayalseema and Anantapur belt. Besides, strong offshore winds are delaying the sea breeze coming into coastal areas like Chennai resulting in increased heating time.