Rain spells relief for Chennaiites

Chennai, July 11 (UNI) Brief showers lashed the city and its suburbs giving the much needed relief to the people of this southern metropolis who were virtually experiencing an extended summer.

The spell, lasting about 30 minutes, was quite heavy at some places leading to waterlogging in one or two areas.

The weather which was hot in the morning, suddenly changed due to overcast skies, before the clouds opened.

Though the 'Agni Natchataram' (peak summer season) ended in the last week of May, it was virtually an extended summer for the people here as the mercury level hovered around 38 to 40 degrees Celsius mark.

The temperature was unsually high during the last couple of days forcing people to remain indoors.

The Marina Beach was the most sought after destination as the weekends witnessed high humanity.

Weather office sources told UNI that Nungambakkam recorded a maximum temperature of 39.0 degrees Celsius while Meenambakkam recorded 38.5.

The sources attributed the sudden rainfall to local phenomena and said the present heat wave conditions were likely to continue for the next few days.

''Because of the strong land breeze, the sea breeze was not able to set in, resulting in intense heat wave conditions,'' they said.

There is a possibility of the heat wave subsiding if the South West Monsoon became more active,'' the sources.

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