A trough running from north interior Tamil Nadu to the Comorin area will revive heavy rainfall in some districts till Saturday. However, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) noted that there may not be any significant change in temperature levels in places like Madurai.
After a few days of warm weather, coastal places in and around Chennai woke up to a sudden outburst of early morning thunderstorms, which was intense in some places, on Friday. Among the various places that were hit by heavy showers, Okkiam Thoraipakkam received heaviest rainfall of 12 cm (recorded during the past 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m.) Injambakkam and R.A.Puram (11 cm each), Adyar zone (10 cm), Pallikaranai, Kannagi Nagar and Medavakkam (9 cm each) were other places that recorded heavy rainfall.
Many other districts, including Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Salem, Dindigul and Tirupattur also received rainfall. Officials of the RMC said the same weather trend would continue over coastal places like Chennai on Saturday. This was one of the typical thunderstorms that occur during active Southwest monsoon.
Moderate spells of rainfall continued through Friday till 7 p.m. Places like Tirur in Tiruvallur district (6 cm), Tiruttani (3 cm), Radhapuram in Tirunelveli district and Yercaud (2 cm each) and Ennore port (1 cm) registered rainfall.
In its bulletin, the RMC said heavy rainfall is likely to occur in eight districts, including Cuddalore, Pudukottai, Sivaganga and Mayiladuthurai on Saturday. The north-south trough that runs from north interior TN to Comorin area across south TN would influence wet weather till the weekend. Thunderstorms and lightning will also occur in one or two places over TN and Puducherry.
B.Amudha, Head, (Additional in-charge), RMC said such occasional thunderstorm activity in isolated patches, similar to what occurred in and around Chennai on Friday, cannot be ruled out during the monsoon.
While the low pressure area likely to form over Bay of Bengal off Odisha-West Bengal coasts around August 25 may not have a direct impact on TN, the weather system may draw in moisture from the Arabian sea. This could trigger isolated thunderstorm activity in the State for a few days from Monday.
On the sizzling temperatures being recorded in Madurai this August, she said it was common for interior places to experience such high temperatures during break spells (when rainfall reduces), owing to geographical factors. In August, Madurai had registered above 40-degree Celsius temperature during six years in the past decade. The all-time high August temperature in Madurai was 41.7 degree Celsius on August 7, 2023, she said.
Published – August 23, 2025 12:17 am IST
