The unseasonal isolated spells of rain and thunder showers across Mumbai and adjoining areas led to the minimum temperature hovering around 23 to 22 degrees Celsius. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that Mumbai city and its adjoining areas, such as Navi Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad, are expected to receive light spell of rains in the next 24 hours, dipping the temperature further.
"Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Palghar, and Raigad received moderate rain during the day. The latest satellite image indicated cloudiness over the North Konkan region. Light to moderate rain is expected to continue over Mumbai and adjoining areas," said KS Hosalikar, Deputy Director-General, IMD Mumbai.
The IMD has predicted light showers on Tuesday and are expected till Wednesday, due to the confluence of northwesterly and southeasterly winds extending over northwest India.
Hosalikar highlighted that weather radar images on Monday had shown a cloud patch all the way from Raigad (Navi Mumbai, Alibag, Panvel), over MMR (Mumbai, Thane, Palghar), and Nashik. Meanwhile, apart from Mumbai, Nashik recorded 9.8 mm rain, Harnai 4.4 mm, Thane 4.2 mm, and Mahabaleshwar 2.2 mm.
Mumbai witnessed steady spells of light showers between Sunday night and Monday afternoon allowing a marginal drop in minimum temperatures and considerable dip in maximum temperatures.
Between 11.30 pm on Sunday and 8.30 am on Monday, the Santacruz weather observatory, representative of the suburbs and Mumbai, recorded 4.8 mm rain while 13.8 mm was recorded at Colaba weather station, representative of south Mumbai. Between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm Monday, 6.2 mm rain was recorded in south Mumbai and 1.1 mm in the suburbs. Maximum rain between Sunday and Monday was recorded at Kandivali at 18.6 mm followed by Colaba and Mazgaon 8.4 mm.
This led to the maximum temperature dipping to as low as 26.9 degrees Celsius, which is 5.4 degree Celsius below normal in the suburbs and it is the lowest in this season and second lowest for the month in 9 years. The lowest maximum temperature over the past decade was recorded on December 6, 2017, at 23.6 degrees Celsius. On Monday, south Mumbai recorded the maximum temperature at 27 degrees Celsius, 4.5 degree Celsius below normal. On Sunday the maximum temperature was 27.6 and 27.4 degree Celsius in the suburbs and south Mumbai respectively.
The minimum temperature fell marginally from previous days to 22 degrees Celsius, both in the suburbs and in south Mumbai, which was above normal. Mulund, Kandivali, and Powai had the lowest minimum temperatures in the city below 20 degrees Celsius.
These weather conditions, according to experts, have helped disperse pollutants making it the best air quality since October 19. "The air quality index (AQI) on Monday was 76, which is considered to be in satisfactory category," stated the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India initiative which provide location-specific information on air quality in near real time.
The last time Mumbai recorded an AQI lower than this was 68 (satisfactory) on October 19 and thereafter the AQI started rising. It was 90 (satisfactory) on October 20 and fluctuated between the poor and moderate categories up till Diwali (November 14). The AQI remained in the moderate category through rest of November with isolated spikes (on a few days) with poor AQI. However, after almost two months, light showers over the past four days improved the air quality.
