With nearly 3 weeks of February gone the afternoons have started to heat up over the interior places of Peninsular India. It is no surprise though as Peninsular India is the first to heat up in the Indian subcontinent as parts of West Coast and West Interior areas of Peninsular India see summer first before the rest of the country gets to summer. Though afternoons tend to get warm in North India during this time most of North India continues to see fairly cold nights as the winter lingers on making it overall very pleasant even during the afternoons.
Peninsular India though is not as lucky with nights also gradually getting warmer as we get to the second half of February making the afternoon heat fairly uncomfortable. The IMD seasonal temperature charts does indicate parts of Peninsular India has been the hottest areas in the Indian sub continent. But a closer look also shows a couple of other key pointers. In sync with El Nino conditions most parts of Peninsular India has seen warmer than normal temperatures during the night. Additionally in some cases even the day time temperatures has been warmer than normal in pockets of Peninsular India by a degree or two.
Weather models indicate the possibility of a spike in temperatures this week over parts of Kerala along with adjoining areas of West Interior Tamil Nadu and parts of Rayalaseema region in Andhra Pradesh. It may not come as a surprise if we get closer to 39 / 40°C in some of the IMD stations in these areas between Thursday and Saturday when models indicate some pockets of Peninsular India may see 3 to 5°C above normal day time maximum temperatures. Most parts of interior Tamil Nadu are expected to see max temperatures stay a couple of degrees above normal, parts of Erode, Namakkal, Tiruppur, Salem, Karur and pockets of Coimbatore closer to the Palghat Gap may be the hottest region in the state where temperatures could hit the century mark, 100°F the Tamil media favourite, with potentially one day of 40°C in either Erode or Karur Paramathi IMD observatory. Along with West TN parts of South TN, around Madurai & Virudhunagar dts, also may see an appreciable increase in temperatures this week.
North TN is also expected to see an increase in temperatures though it may not be as high as West Interior and parts of South Interior TN. There is a very high possibility on Thursday and Friday some of the western suburbs of Chennai may touch 37°C though the city areas closer to the coast may not get that hot. Humidity during afternoons may make it very uncomfortable though.