Chennai residents woke to brief showers on Thursday morning, getting a temporary respite from the heat. Skies are expected to remain cloudy as the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) has issued a yellow alert for select state districts.
The RMC has forecasted light thunderstorms and lightning with moderate rainfall over the next few days over isolated areas of Chennai and other northern districts of the state.
The weather agency has issued a yellow alert for districts bordering the ghat areas for isolated heavy rainfall till Sunday. A cyclonic circulation over the Comorin area and its neighbourhood is expected to trigger widespread showers across these districts over the next five days.
Also read | Bengaluru braces for rain and strong winds; IMD warns of thunderstorms across Karnataka
Senthamarai Kannan, Director of the Area Cyclone Warning Centre, RMC, stated that the weather systems over south Tamil Nadu would bring light to moderate rainfall in several parts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry starting Thursday. Heavier rainfall is likely on Thursday in Western Ghats districts, from Nilgiris to Tirunelveli and some parts of southern Tamil Nadu.
IMD heatwave warning
The IMD had ruled out El Nino conditions for the upcoming monsoon but warned of an exceptionally hot summer in months ahead. Above-normal temperatures will prevail, and an increased number of heatwave days will hit several parts of the country from April to June 2025. Several states are likely to experience extreme heat conditions.
“We are not expecting El Nino conditions during the monsoon season. April- June will be hotter than usual, with more heatwave days likely in many states,” said IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra.
IMD predicted that Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and northern Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will experience more heatwave days in April- June.
