Mumbai woke up to unseasonal rain on Tuesday morning as drizzle lashed several parts of the city following nowcast warnings issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The unexpected rain was accompanied by a sharp increase in minimum temperatures, which rose almost 4 degrees in a single day.
Earlier on Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued two nowcast warnings for Bombay and Thane district, indicating probability of light rains. The yellow nowcast was first broadcast at 5.30am, followed by another nowcast at 7am.
The IMD issued two yellow immediate forecast warnings for Mumbai and Thane district early on Tuesday, first at 5.30 am and again at 7 am, predicting light rain. Parts of Thane and Navi Mumbai received light rain in the early hours, followed by drizzle across Mumbai. Areas of south Mumbai and parts of western and eastern suburbs, including Borivali, Andheri, Kurla and Ghatkopar, also reported light rain.
The IMD data showed that the Colaba coastal observatory recorded 0.1 mm of rain, while the Santacruz observatory recorded no measurable rain after the morning spells.
Minimum temperatures, however, necessarily increased. Santacruz recorded a low of 22.6 degrees Celsius on Tuesday morning, five degrees above normal. Mumbai’s minimum temperature was around 18 degrees Celsius on Monday morning.
IMD scientists attributed the unseasonal rains to a western disturbance system.
“The rains were a result of a western disturbance that was descending. When a western disturbance passes and is at a lower latitude, it tends to bring moisture from the Arabian Sea. If the western disturbance system had been even smaller, then the intensity of rains would have been even higher. But we were expecting these very light rain spells,” a senior scientist at IMD Mumbai told The indian express.
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Mumbai ushered in the New Year with a surprise unseasonal rain that lashed parts of the city and its neighboring districts on January 1. So far, the city’s Colaba station has recorded 9.3 mm of rain and the Santacruz station has recorded 6.7 mm. This marks an excess of rainfall of 6 to 8 mm above normal for the region.
Despite the rains, the air quality in Mumbai remained in the ‘moderate’ category, with the overall air quality index (AQI) touching 115 on Tuesday morning.
Of Mumbai’s 23 active stations, seven zones recorded “satisfactory” AQI readings below 100, while other parts of the city reported “moderate” levels. The worst air quality was recorded in Chakala in Andheri with an AQI of 166, while the best was recorded in Mulund with 70.