With the onset of the northeast monsoon, schools in several districts of Tamil Nadu, namely Chennai, Kanyakumari, Tenkasi, Theni, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Dindigul, Sivagangai and Nellai have been shut down for one day, reported ANI.

A heavy downpour is witnessed across several districts in Tamil Nadu. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an 'orange alert' in several districts due to the heavy rains battering the state. The IMD has predicted bad weather conditions in the states today, November 4 and tomorrow, 5, leading to the closure of schools in nine districts.

The metrology department has predicted that moderate rainfall will continue over isolated places in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Karaikal for the next six days. Meanwhile, Chennai Regional Metrology Department has also issued a heavy rainfall forecast for the Southern districts and parts of the Western Ghats districts for the next three days.

The Northeast monsoon is the counterpart of the southwest monsoon and usually occurs between October to December and is a comparatively smaller-scale version of the southwest monsoon. It is also known as the winter monsoon and is specially confined to the Southern peninsula. Tamil Nadu receives about 48 per cent of its annual rainfall during the northeast monsoons.

Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal have been asked to prepare for isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall (115.6 to 204.4 mm) on November 4, ANI added.