Most of us during our geography classes in school would have studied about seasons. The average Chennaiate though may Chennai has only “Summer and Summerest”. But January to early March is indeed a wonderful period for Chennai. A season when mild winter prevails with pleasant night time temperatures. Days may be warm but not hot enough to make us feel uncomfortable. In all this it is easy to forget summers do not happen at all places at the same time. For example, Peninsular West Coast sees warm days right after post monsoon season.
Similarly Peninsular West Coast also starts seeing summer conditions early as well. A big factor to this is the wind direction. The presence of Easterlies is possibly the biggest factor for West coast to get heated up early. Just like how Chennai see its hottest days of the year when winds from NW strengthen.
As the IMD monthly mean maximum temperature charts show Peninsular West coast is the early trend setter for summer. Interior areas of Deccan Plateau are the next in line when day time temperatures start picking up by late March. More often than not places in Rayalaseema may be the first to breach the 40°C mark in the Indian sub-continent along with parts of Vidarbha region in Maharashtra.
Over the next few weeks day time temperatures are likely to gradually climb up along parts of Kerala and coastal Karnataka. Similarly, Kanyakumari district in South TN also sees early summer unlike rest of the state. Summer conditions are likely to persist well into March and early April. Once the winds start transitioning from East to West summer starts to fade in these areas. Additionally, the transition thunderstorms also bring about a reduction in temperatures.
Nights though are likely to remain cool across most parts of Peninsular India. Winter conditions is likely to persist over the interiors and in the Ghats. Some places in the Nilgiris and Palani Ghats may continue to see single digit night time temperatures over the next week to 10 days before winter starts to gradually fade. Models continue to show a weak Easterly wave to influence parts of Delta and South TN early next week. It remains to be seen if it indeed happens in real time.