CHENNAI: With the onset of monsoon ahead, Chennaiites woke up to a loud rumble of thunder and intense spell on Wednesday morning due to a low pressure area over the West Central Bay of Bengal. The rain is likely to continue over several districts of Tamil Nadu for the next three hours, said the Regional Meteorological Center (RMC).

Thunderstorms and lightning with moderate rain are likely to occur over Chennai, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Ranipet, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Kallakurichi and Cuddalore districts and Puducherry.

The Met official stated that the rain for Chennai is likely to gradually increase in the next few days.

At least 16 districts - Tirupattur, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Ariyalur, Tiruchy, Perambalur, Pudukottai, Dindigul, Sivagangai, Ramanathapuram, Salem, Namakkal, Tenkasi and Thoothukudi is expected to receive light rain for the next two - three hours.

Weather bloggers tweeted that the rains were likely over many places on the Peninsular East coast under the influence of the circulation off the coast of Andhra Pradesh. And one or two places in North Tamil Nadu could see heavy spells of rain. At times, rain will gradually increase from today for Chennai and the suburbs.

According to RMC, during the last 24 hours, the highest amount of rainfall recorded in Coimbatore and Salem was 3 cm each, Tiruvarur, the Nilgiris and Tirupur 2 cm each, Erode, Theni, Thoothukudi, and Namakkal received 1 cm of rainfall each.

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