Mumbai braces for heavy rainfall this week as IMD issues ‘orange’ alert

“Mumbai may record 110 mm of rainfall on Thursday and the intensity will pick up during the evening which will be coupled with gusty winds. The day will mostly see sporadic spells of rainfall,” Sushma Nair, scientist from IMD Mumbai told The Indian Express on Wednesday.

The weather department had issued an ‘orange’ alert for Mumbai and Thane on Wednesday as well, however, the warning was downgraded to ‘yellow’ later in the afternoon.

“On Thursday, conditions are favourable for Mumbai to experience heavy to very heavy rainfall,” Nair added.

Independent weather experts have, meanwhile, said that the heavy downpour was a result of multiple weather phenomena that have developed over Maharashtra as well the western and the southwestern coasts.

Mahesh Palawat, weather expert and meteorologist from Skymet, said Mumbai will receive the peak amount of heavy rainfall on July 7.

“There is a low pressure that has developed in the Arabian Sea and is moving towards the West. Besides this, there is a cyclonic formation that has developed over Gujarat along with a trough in coastal Karnataka. These factors will intensify the weather pattern, which will further lead to heavy to very heavy rainfall in Mumbai between July 6 and 9,” Palawat said.

Meanwhile, over the past 24 hours, IMD’s Santacruz observatory recorded 90 mm of rainfall, while the coastal observatory at Colaba recorded 33 mm.