Climate
Chennai features a tropical wet and dry climate. Chennai lies on the thermal equator and is also coastal, which prevents extreme variation in seasonal temperature. For most of the year, the weather is hot and humid. The hottest part of the year is late May and early June, known locally as Agni Nakshatram ("fiery star") or as Kathiri Veyyil, with maximum temperatures around 38–42 degrees Celsius (100–108 °F). The coolest part of the year is January, with minimum temperatures around 18–20 °C (64–68 °F). The lowest temperature recorded is 13.9 °C (57.0 °F) and highest 45 °C (113 °F)(30 May 2003).
The average annual rainfall is about 1,400 mm (55 in). The city gets most of its seasonal rainfall from the north-east monsoon winds, from mid-September to mid-December. Cyclones in the Bay of Bengal sometimes hit the city. Highest annual rainfall recorded is 2,570 mm in 2005. The most prevailing winds in Chennai is the Southwesterly between the end of May to end of September and the Northeasterly during the rest of the year.
| Climate data for Chennai | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 28.9 (84.0) |
30.6 (87.1) |
32.7 (90.9) |
34.7 (94.5) |
37.5 (99.5) |
37.3 (99.1) |
35.4 (95.7) |
34.5 (94.1) |
33.9 (93.0) |
31.9 (89.4) |
29.5 (85.1) |
28.5 (83.3) |
37.5 (99.5) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 20.4 (68.7) |
21.2 (70.2) |
23.1 (73.6) |
25.8 (78.4) |
27.6 (81.7) |
27.4 (81.3) |
26.2 (79.2) |
25.6 (78.1) |
25.3 (77.5) |
24.3 (75.7) |
22.7 (72.9) |
21.2 (70.2) |
20.4 (68.7) |
| Rainfall mm (inches) | 34.5 (1.358) |
12.5 (0.492) |
15.3 (0.602) |
17.7 (0.697) |
42.9 (1.689) |
53.7 (2.114) |
100.8 (3.969) |
129.2 (5.087) |
125.3 (4.933) |
290.9 (11.453) |
348.9 (13.736) |
145.6 (5.732) |
1,317.3 (51.862) |
| Avg. rainy days | 2.7 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 7.5 | 12.8 | 14.2 | 10.2 | 13.5 | 12.9 | 8.4 | 87.3 |
| Mean daily sunshine hours | 8.7 | 9.6 | 9.5 | 9.7 | 9.0 | 6.8 | 6.0 | 6.2 | 6.6 | 6.3 | 6.1 | 6.6 | 7.6 |
| Source #1: WMO | |||||||||||||
| Source #2: HKO (sun only, 1971–1990) | |||||||||||||
Read more about this topic: Geography Of Chennai
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