Heavy showers elude Mumbai, but orange alert still in place

While the IMD had issued an orange alert stating the likelihood of ‘heavy to very heavy rain’ on Thursday, heavy showers remained elusive until at least Thursday evening. Records showed that between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm on Thursday, the IMD’s Santacruz station received 1 mm rain whereas the Colaba coastal observatory registered 11 mm rain. Not only Mumbai, even the entire Konkan region–where warnings have been issued–remained dry until Thursday evening. Until 5.30 pm on Thursday, the Alibaug station in Raigad district–where a red alert was issued–received only 4 mm rain whereas Ratnagiri–which has also been placed under a red alert–recorded only 3 mm rain.

Even so, the IMD has extended its orange alert in Mumbai and Thane districts until Saturday morning owing to the likelihood of ‘heavy to very heavy’ rain. Meteorologists have attributed the incoming spell of heavy rains to a fresh low-pressure area that was expected to form over north Bay of Bengal on July 24. Following Saturday, a yellow alert has been issued in Mumbai while Thane has been under an orange alert. Meanwhile, no warnings have been issued in Mumbai, Thane and Palghar after Sunday with only moderate rain forecast.

The downpour since the beginning of the week has enabled the suburban district to close in on the deficit gap over the past few days. So far, the Santacruz station has clocked in 1152 mm rain since June until Thursday morning while the Colaba station has recorded 902 mm rain. However, the suburban station is still reeling under a rain deficit of 57 mm while the coastal observatory has logged in a deficit of 224 mm.