CHENNAI: Chennai has recorded its hottest day this summer on Tuesday with prevailing heat wave-like conditions. Both Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam weather stations recorded a maximum day time temperature close to 38 degrees Celsius, which has happened only for the second time in the last decade in the month of March.
While the mean day time temperature for March is 32.9 degrees Celsius, Nungambakkam clocked 37.6 degrees and Meenambakkam 38 degrees, which is over four degrees above normal. Only last March 31, the city recorded 38.3 degrees; otherwise since 2012, the city never touched 37 degrees. The all-time record was 40.6 degrees Celsius recorded on March 29, 1953.
The regional meteorological centre here said the maximum temperature is likely to be above normal by 2-4 degrees at isolated pockets of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal. The Madurai airport station has recorded the highest temperature of 40.2 degrees Celsius.
The harsh summer days were the result of the rare cyclone, which formed over the north Andaman Sea and adjoining areas of East Central Bay of Bengal that sucked up all the moisture and blocked the cool sea breeze. The system has now become a deep depression and is expected to move northwards away from the Andaman Islands and cross the Myanmar coast as a deep depression.
The weatherman said normal weather conditions would slowly return from Wednesday as the system loses its steam and moves away from the area of influence.
Meanwhile, some areas in the state received brief spells of rainfall on Friday. The forecast says till March 26, thunderstorms with lightning are likely to occur at isolated places over Tamil Nadu.