Yellow alert for rain issued to 16 dists till May 15

CHENNAI: In a relief, several districts of Tamil Nadu are likely to get respite from scorching heat as the meteorological department has issued a yellow warning predicting heavy rains till May 15.

The department also predicted possible thunderstorms and lightning activity in the State.

“Due to a cyclonic circulation over the Southeast Arabian Sea off Kerala coast at 1.5 km above mean sea level, as many as 16 districts of Tamil Nadu - Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Dindigul, Theni, Virudhunagar, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Tiruppur, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri, Namakkal, Perambalur, Karur and Madurai are given yellow alert predicting heavy rain along with thunderstorm activity for the next four days,” said P Senthamarai Kannan, the director of Area Cyclone Warning Centre, Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC).

In addition, light to moderate rain at a few places with thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds with speeds reaching 30 km/h to 40 km/h is likely to occur over Tamil Nadu in the coming days. The weather department predicted that many places over the Western Ghats and adjoining interior districts of Tamil Nadu are expected to receive slightly above-normal rainfall till May 23.

According to RMC, Tamil Nadu has received 35 mm of rainfall against the average 83 mm of summer rain amounting to a 58 percent rainfall deficit from March 1 to May 11. Dindigul is the only district to record 13 percent excess rainfall with 133 mm against 118 mm during the summer.

Meanwhile, dry weather is likely to prevail over the interior districts of Tamil Nadu, where the maximum temperature is to be generally near normal over many places and 2 to 3 degrees Celsius above normal for the next few days. It is noted that isolated pockets over plains of northern interior districts are likely to record the maximum temperature around 40 to 41 degrees Celsius, coastal areas might see 34 to 37 degrees Celsius.

The state has recorded a deficit rainfall of 58 percent during the summer season this year.