Chennai: Chennai city and its suburbs sizzled under intense heat wave conditions as the mercury level crossed the 100 deg F mark for the first time this season, recording the highest for this month this year.
Met office sources attributed the spike in temperature to Super Cyclonic Storm ‘Amphan’, which had taken away the moisture content from the air.
Though the peak summer season (Kathiri) started on 4 May, during which the temperature would go up by a few degress, this was for the first time the city experienced scorching heat wave conditions.
The temperature had already crossed the 100 Deg F mark in districts like Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Karur, Trichy, Madurai and Cuddalore after 4 May .
The Nungambakkam observatory in the city recorded close to a high of 41.3 deg celsius (106.34 Deg F), as several people, who were already under the coronavirus lockdown, chose to remain indoors.
The mercury level in the city went up by four degrees. and this is the highest for this month this year, a Met official said.
On Tuesday, after a pleasant morning with blustery winds, the mercury level started rising as the day wore on and peaked after 1200 hrs as the sun came down blazing.
It was even more hotter in the suburbs where the Meenambakkam observatory recorded 41.4 Deg C (106.52 Deg F), though it crossed the 100-Deg F marck at 101.3 Deg F Monday.
Similar weather conditions were likely to prevail for the next few days, with a drastic increase in temperature expected before the peak season ends on 28 May. Statistics since 2010 showed that the highest temperature in the month of May ranged between 40.9 Deg C on 30 May, 2010 to 42.8 deg C on 24 May, 2014.
It was 41.5 Deg C on May three last year, though the all time record was 45 Deg C recorded on 31 May, 2003. Only in 2018, the temperature did not touch the 40 Deg C mark with the maximum recorded was 39.1 deg C on 31 May that year.