The northeast monsoon, that brings in much of Tamil Nadu’s annual rainfall, is expected to set in over the state by October 28, as per an announcement by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). Isolated areas in north Tamil Nadu will also receive showers in the next 24 hours. Speaking to the media on Friday, Deputy Director of Regional Meteorological Centre S Balachandran said that the northeast monsoon is expected to arrive by October 28.

“It is expected that this year’s northeast monsoon (rainfall) will be close to the annual normal amount in north Tamil Nadu and below the normal amount in south Tamil Nadu,” he said. He added that in the next 24 hours, light to moderate rains with thunderstorms will occur over some places in north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

In 2019, the northeast monsoon commenced on October 16, four days earlier than the usual October 20, and had four major low pressure systems form over Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea between October and December 2019. Tamil Nadu received normal rainfall through the northeast monsoon in 2019.

As per the latest bulletin released by the IMD, heavy rains with thunderstorms are likely to occur in isolated places in Villupuram, Kallakurichi and Cuddalore districts in the next 24 hours. It added that the skies over Chennai and its suburbs will be cloudy for the next 48 hours and mild showers might occur over some places in the city.

In the last 24 hours, Pallipaatu (Thiruvallur) recorded 17 cm of rain, Ramakrishnarajupettai (Thiruvallur) received 13 cm of rain, Thamaraipakkam (Thiruvallur) and Sriperumbudur (Kancheepuram) received 11 cm of rain each and Tiruttani (Thiruvallur) received 9 cm of rain. Madurantakam (Chengalpattu), Thiruvallur (Thiruvallur), Chennai Nungambakkam, Uthramerur (Kancheepuram), Gummidipoondi (Thiruvallur), Vembakkam (Thiruvannamalai) and Puducherry (Puducherry) recorded 7 cm of rain each in the last 24 hours.