Monsoon withdrawal in Mumbai likely from October 15: IMD

For the record, following a dry August, Mumbai in September has surpassed its monthly quota of rain this year. Data procured from IMD shows that while the city recorded 387 mm of rain till Monday morning, the monthly average for the month of September is 359 mm.

Meanwhile, sounding a yellow alert until Thursday at least, IMD has stated that the city and its neighbouring districts can brace themselves for a week of thunderstorms coupled with lightning and gusty winds. However, the weather bureau has not forecast heavy rain in the city. While the yellow alert has been issued for Mumbai, Thane and Palghar between Wednesday and Thursday, the alert will remain in place in Raigad until Friday.

Responding to questions pertaining to the thunderstorm alerts, Sushma Nair, scientist at IMD Mumbai said, “Currently, there is interaction of winds as well as a trough which is running over south Chhattisgarh to South Konkan. Because of this weather synoptic, many parts of Maharashtra including Mumbai and its neighbouring districts can expect thunderstorms.”

Even as the IMD issued the yellow alert in the city on Monday, between Sunday and Monday morning, Mumbai received minimal showers with the IMD’s Santacruz weather station recording 10 mm rain while the Colaba observatory registered 3 mm.

During the same period, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) Automatic Weather Station showed that the western suburbs received 7.73 mm rain whereas the eastern suburbs recorded 2.45 mm. The island city division remained the driest at 1.06 mm rain.

Meanwhile, the water stock in the seven lakes which supply water to the city touched 98.93 per cent of the total capacity on Monday. Last year, on the same date, the lake levels had surpassed 99 per cent while in 2021, the water stock reached 98.93 per cent.