Reversal of winds from easterly to north-north westerly has been attributed as the reason.

Temperatures plummeted to nearly 19 degree Celsius in Chennai on Saturday with the city witnessing its coldest night of the season, according to a report in The Times of India. 

The Meteorology department said on Sunday that the minimum temperature, recorded just before sunrise, was 19 C as compared to 22.7 C a week earlier. 

At Meenambakkam, the minimum temperature fell to 18.2C.

Reversal of winds from easterly to north-north westerly has been attributed as the reason. 
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"The drop in temperature is due to winds from the cold northern and northwestern parts of the country. The inland winds may persist until Tuesday night before wind direction changes again. When the easterly and north-easterly winds resume, the temperature will be back to normal,” said Mahesh Palawat of Skymet Weather. 

The minimum temperature at Meenambakkam was nearly 1 degree C lower than the figure recorded at Nungambakkam. 

Weathermen attributed this to the fact that Meenambakkam is 8km to 9km away from the sea, while Nungambakkam is just 4km from the coast.

The city generally experiences an average maximum and minimum temperature of 29.3C and 21.2C at Nungambakkam in January. 

Partly cloudy skies have been forecast on Monday with little to no possibility of rainfall. 

The Met office said that Monday's maximum temperature is likely to be 29 degrees C and the day's minimum 19 degrees C. 

Last year, in November, the city had recorded its coldest day of the year when the maximum temperature fell by nearly five degrees below normal. 

However, the coldest night of the year had been witnessed in January 2017 when the minimum temperature fell to 20 degrees C. 

THE WEATHERMAN HAS WARNED FISHERMEN NOT TO VENTURE INTO DEEP SEA FOR A FEW DAYS FROM DECEMBER 5 ONWARDS.

The Indian Meteorological Department has issued a weather warning, forecasting that a well-marked low-pressure area has formed over southeast Bay of Bengal. According to the weatherman, the condition of the sea is expected to worsen from December 5 onwards.  

According to the weatherman, the low pressure is expected to intensify into a depression over the next 24 hours, and deep depression within the next 48 hours. As the depression is expected to intensify over the coast of north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh, the IMD advised fishermen not to venture into deep sea for the next three to four days from December 5 onwards.

Also according to the IMD, heavy rainfall is expected in isolated parts over Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on December 6, and heavy to very heavy rainfall on December 7 and December 8.

Speaking to TNM, Y K Reddy, the head of IMD Hyderabad, said that there won’t be much damage.

“Wind speed will be less than 60km/hour. As of now, we’re expecting it to be depression or deep depression at the maximum. It may not become a cyclone. We’re keeping a watch on it. As of now, the present situation is that it will cross as a deep depression over north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coast,” he said.

Reddy also said that there was no need to worry about a cyclonic storm, as the intensity will be lesser. Wind speeds are expected to be at 50-60 kmph. If it was a cyclonic storm, the expected wind force would be 62-87 kmph, he said.

According to IMD Chennai, light to moderate rain may occur in some areas of the city. Light to moderate rain is also expected in southern parts of Tamil Nadu.

The weatherman also issued a weather warning for isolated rainfall over north Konkan on December 5.
Minimum temperatures were appreciably below normal (-3.1 degrees to -5 degrees) at isolated parts in Andhra Pradesh and above normal (1.6 degrees to 3 degrees) at most places over coastal Karnataka, Rayalaseema, and at isolated places over Kerala.