The Hindu : Front Page : Dog days still seem to be dogged

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 15, 2006

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Dog days still seem to be dogged

S. Sundar

`BRAVING THE BLAZE': Shawls serve the purpose of an umbrella for these girls in Madurai. — Photo: G. Moorthy

MADURAI: April may be the cruellest month. But, as far as Maduraites are concerned, June has proved the cruellest this year. There seems to be no let-up in the temperature making the month a "second summer".The month, which began on a promising note with the good news of the southwest monsoon setting on time, has taken a turn for the worse, forcing the residents to sweat it out under the hot sun, what with the temperature hovering at around 40 degrees Celsius.

Interestingly, June 8 registered the highest temperature of the season - 40.9 degrees Celsius at the Madurai airport.

The mercury level could not shoot up beyond 40.2 degrees Celsius (recorded on May 23) in May and not over 40.3 degrees Celsius (on April 27) in the whole of April.

While it crossed the 40-degree-Celsius mark on three days in April and only once in May, this month the temperature has crossed the mark on five days and recorded 39-plus for four days.

The intermittent showers that kept the temperature under control in April and May, have failed to show up in June.

With heat waves sweeping the city, on Wednesday (40 degrees Celsius) the city roads wore almost a deserted look in the afternoon.

The sudden change in the weather condition has only put the farmers in a wait-and-watch mode about starting agricultural operations, even a fortnight after water was released for irrigation.

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