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After a stretch of warm days, Chennai and its adjoining districts received isolated heavy rainfall on Thursday which was expected to continue but with reduced intensity till November 12, officials of the Regional Meteorological Center (RMC) in Chennai said. Chennai and 25 districts of Tamil Nadu were on orange alert on Thursday.

Since October 1, Chennai and Tamil Nadu have received excessive rainfall of 7% and 13% excess rains respectively in this northeast monsoon season, an official said. The northeast monsoon brings an average of 45 cm of rain to Tamil Nadu, which is 48% of its annual rainfall, and an average of 87 cm to Chennai, which is 63% of the capital’s annual rainfall. This year, the monsoon arrived on October 15, weathermen said.

Thursday’s rains didn’t wreak havoc but their on-off period offered some respite from the heat of recent weeks in the city. It was carried by a cyclonic circulation over central parts of the southern Bay of Bengal which was about 3.1 km above mean sea level. And a trough is moving from the Gulf of Mannar over the cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal, the RMC said.

Thunderstorm with lightning is likely to occur at one or two places over Tamil Nadu, and RMC said there will be isolated heavy rain at various places till November 12.

For Chennai and its adjoining districts like Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Thiruvallur, “for the next 24 hours, the sky is likely to be generally cloudy,” RMC deputy director P Senthamarai Kannan said.

– Moderate to heavy rain with thunderstorms and lightning is likely to occur in some areas. Maximum temperature is likely to be around 29 °C and minimum temperature is likely to be around 25 °C.”

On Thursday, Madurai airport recorded the highest maximum temperature of 35.2°C while Erode district recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 18.8°C in Tamil Nadu.