CHENNAI: Chennai witnessed a sharp turnaround in weather conditions on Thursday evening, with strong gusty winds and spells of rain sweeping across several parts of the city after a hot and humid day. Residents in areas such as Poonamallee reported powerful winds that resembled cyclonic conditions.
The city had experienced high temperatures during the day, with Nungambakkam recording a maximum temperature of 38.3°C and Meenambakkam registering 38.5°C, both around one degree above normal. However, weather conditions changed rapidly during the evening as thunderclouds developed over and around the city.
Light to moderate rainfall was reported in several neighbourhoods. According to rainfall data recorded up to 5.30 pm, Meenambakkam received 17.2 mm of rainfall, while Nungambakkam recorded 0.8 mm.
Automated weather stations reported higher rainfall in some suburban locations, including 26.5 mm each at Chembarambakkam and ACS Medical College, 24 mm at Sathyabama University, and 9.5 mm at Poonamallee. Thiruninravur recorded 21.5 mm of rainfall.
The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai, had forecast light to moderate rain accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning over Chennai and its neighbourhoods. The weather department also warned of gusty winds reaching speeds of 40-50 kmph at isolated places across Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Karaikal till June 20.
The changing weather pattern brought much-needed relief from the recent spell of intense heat, although humidity levels remained high. RMC has forecast partly cloudy skies with light to moderate rain, thunderstorms and lightning for Chennai on Friday as well, with daytime temperatures expected to remain between 36°C and 37°C.
Due to the rain, there was severe traffic congestion at some places in Saligramam and Ambattur in the evenning.
For the past few days, underground cable-laying work has been in progress in Ambattur. Traffic was diverted in and around Ambattur and other neighbouring routes. With the rains on Thursday, vehicular movement slowed down causing traffic snarls. Police personnel were deployed in many places to address the issue, sources said.
At Saligramam, a branch of a tree along Arunachalam Salai fell on the road due to strong winds. Following this, traffic was disrupted until personnel from the Fire Services came to the spot and cleared it.
In a related incident at Maduravoyal, a large steel post holding an advertisement banner inside a restaurant compound snapped and fell to the ground. The police said that no one was injured and the debris was cleared in an hour.