The last of the rain clouds are likely to fizzle out over the next couple of days and mercury levels will climb up as summer nears its peak in Tamil Nadu. The latest weather bulletin issued by the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) on April 18 warns that the maximum temperature is likely to go up by 2 to 3 degree Celsius at isolated places over parts of northern, western and coastal Tamil Nadu in the next few days.

Tiruvallur, Chennai, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Ranipettai, Vellore, Tirupattur, Dharmapuri, Salem, Namakkal, Karur, Tiruchirapalli, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Kallakurichi, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Mayiladudurai, Tiruvarur and Thanjavur districts of Tamil Nadu will see a rise in temperature levels by 2-3 degree Celsius over the next few days starting April 20.

Meanwhile, parts of the Western Ghat districts and southern Tamil Nadu districts will witness thunderstorms with light to moderate rain on Sunday and Monday. These thunderstorms are likely influenced by a trough extending from Vidarbha in Maharashtra to interior Tamil Nadu and the cyclonic circulation over Kerala.

The Western Ghat districts will continue to receive light rains until April 22. As of Sunday morning, Billimalai Estate in Nilgiris district recorded 3 cms rainfall followed by Glenmorgan and Chamraj Estate in Nilgiris recording 2 cms each.

Dry weather is likely to prevail over the rest of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal beginning Sunday. In Chennai, the sky condition is likely to be partly cloudy with the maximum and minimum temperature hovering around 36˚C and 26 ˚C respectively.

On Saturday, Trichy recorded the highest temperature in the state with 38.8 degree Celsius. This was 1.3 degrees above normal for the district. Maximum departure from normal was witnessed in Coonoor and Thondi districts where the recorded temperature was 7.6 and 3.3 degrees above normal respectively.

Mercury levels in Chennai Meenambakkam touched 36.2 degree Celsius on the same day.