IMD declares arrival of monsoon in Mumbai

The onset was declared on Saturday after a night of significant thunder and lightning activity on Friday. Mumbai received the heaviest pre-monsoon showers of the season on Friday with the southern part of the city receiving moderate to heavy rainfall. The IMD observatory at Santacruz observatory recorded 41.3 mm of rain, which is categorised as ‘Rather Heavy’ rainfall, in the 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Saturday. While IMD’s Colaba observatory recorded 61.8 mm of rain.

After remaining dry since the beginning of the month, the city started receiving pre-monsoon showers on Thursday evening. Localised waterlogging was also recorded on Friday. The pre-monsoon showers also brought down the minimum temperature. The night temperature recorded on Saturday was two degrees below normal at 25.2 degrees Celsius.

Weather officials said that monsoons had advanced over most parts of Konkan, including Mumbai and some parts of Madhya Maharashtra. “Conditions are favourable for further advance of monsoon into some parts of north Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Konkan, some parts of Gujarat state, most parts of Madhya Maharashtra, entire Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, some parts of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West-central and the northwest Bay of Bengal during the next 48 hours,” said IMD.

For the next 24 hours, the IMD has forecast a generally cloudy sky with light to moderate spells of rain/thundershower. There is a possibility of occasional intense spells. Last year, the onset of the monsoon over Mumbai was on June 9. In 2019, Mumbai witnessed its most delayed onset in the last 45 years after the southwest monsoon was declared over the city on June 25. In 2020, it was June 14, in 2018, it was June 9 and June 12 in 2017.

Independent meteorologists, however, said that weather conditions are not conducive enough to declare monsoon onset. Taking to Twitter, Akshay Deoras, meteorologist and PhD researcher at the Department of Meteorology, the University of Reading, UK, said, “Has the #monsoon reached Mumbai-MMR? The monsoon’s arrival in Mumbai-MMR has been declared today. However, official data shows that monsoon winds are yet to reach…”