Mumbai records over 100 mm rain for second day

On Tuesday, the city woke up to overcast skies and heavy downpour with the IMD’s Santacruz observatory logging 108 mm rain between Monday and Tuesday morning, while the Colaba station recorded 40 mm rainfall. This came a day after torrential rain lashed the city on Monday when the Santacruz observatory recorded 115 mm rain between Sunday and Monday until 8.30 am.

However, after a rainy start to the day, the intensity of showers reduced on Tuesday.

According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s automatic weather stations, between 8 am and 6 pm on Tuesday, the heaviest rain was recorded in the western suburbs at an average rainfall of 14 mm, followed by 8 mm rain in the eastern suburbs and island city division.

Having clocked in 223 mm rain in a 48-hour period, the Santacruz station on Tuesday morning surpassed the 1000-mm rain mark since June. However, despite the heavy spell, data furnished by the IMD show that the Santacruz station is presently reeling under a deficit of 141 mm while the Colaba coastal station has recorded a negative departure of 297 mm rain so far. The deficit in rain has come owing to a prolonged period of dry spell, since the beginning of July. For the record, July is the city’s wettest month of the year when the Santacruz station typically logs 855 mm rain.

According to meteorologists, the city’s ongoing wet spell is likely to continue until at least the weekend. Weather experts have attributed the resurgence of showers to active weather systems such as an upper air cyclonic circulation as well as an east-west trough. Further, a fresh low-pressure area is also expected to form over north Bay of Bengal around July 24.

In view of the low-pressure area, Mumbai and its neighbouring Thane district have been placed under an orange alert on Thursday while a yellow alert has been sounded for Wednesday as well as during the weekend between Friday and Saturday.