Mumbai wakes up to rain after brief dry spell; ‘yellow’ alert in city, Thane from tomorrow

Rain activity during the weekend spurred a dip in rising day temperatures with the maximum on Friday touching 29.5 degrees Celsius in the suburbs – which is 1.2 degrees below the normal – and 29.7 degrees in the island city division. This ushered in a respite for citizens who had been reeling under temperatures hovering over 31 degrees Celsius since Monday.

On Saturday, rain activity gathered further pace as several pockets of the city experienced intermittent spells of light to moderate showers.

“Earlier, we were expecting heavy rain from September 13 onwards. But now, rain activity is expected between Sunday and Monday, and its force is also expected to remain low, bringing only between 30 mm and 50 mm of rainfall,” Rajesh Kapadia, who runs the independent weather blog Vagaries of Weather, told The Indian Express.

Kapadia said that a low-pressure system from the Bay of Bengal was crossing over Chhattisgarh, which was expected to usher in rain when it reached the region. “However, while the system is now here, it is not gaining strength as expected. Furthermore, a monsoon trough was expected to travel from the north and merge with the low-pressure system. However, the trough has also not reached the region yet in what has further resulted in the likelihood of subdued rainfall.”

The weather bureau said that from Tuesday, moderate rain activity will resume in Mumbai, Thane, and Raigad districts.

September is the driest of the four monsoon months in Mumbai, when the city’s suburban belt receives an average of 360 mm of rainfall. So far, the Santacruz division has already clocked in 132 mm of rainfall this month.