Yellow alert for Mumbai, Thane as IMD forecasts intermittent spells of rain until Sunday

Data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) automatic weather stations showed that between 6 pm and 7 pm Tuesday, the heaviest rainfall was recorded in Dharavi at 19 mm, followed by 16 mm in Pratiksha Nagar, 15 mm in Chembur, 11 mm in Powai, and 10 mm in Dadar and Goregaon.

The showers continued into Wednesday, when, after experiencing above-normal temperatures of 35.5 degrees Celsius during the day, moderate rain swept through parts of the city and its neighbouring districts.

According to the IMD, rain activity is slated to intensify between Thursday and Friday, placing Mumbai, Thane and Palghar districts under a yellow alert owing to the possibility of gusty winds at the speed of 30-40 kmph, moderate rainfall as well as thunderstorms accompanied with lightning.

While no alerts have been sounded for the weekend, meteorologists have said that light to moderate showers will continue until Sunday. Meanwhile, in the neighbouring districts of Raigad and Ratnagiri, a yellow alert has been sounded for a three-day period until Saturday.

Speaking to The Indian Express, scientists from IMD Mumbai attributed the unseasonal spells of rain to the troughing in easterly winds across Maharashtra in the lower levels.

“The troughing from the easterly winds has led to the incursion of moisture. Furthermore, the high temperatures during the daytime have favoured the development of thunderstorms and rainfall during the evenings,” said an IMD scientist.

The spell of rainfall swept the city a day after Diwali festivities Monday spurred the Air Quality Index (AQI) levels to the ‘poor’ category at 212, making it the city’s worst air quality since the onset of monsoon in May.

After showers lashed the city, the air quality improved significantly on Wednesday morning to 134 and further dipped to 116 on Thursday morning. With rain droplets settling down pollutants suspended in the atmosphere, the city is likely to experience improved air quality until the end of the week at least.

So far, the Colaba observatory has already clocked in 88.5 mm rainfall in the month of October, making for a surplus of 19 mm rainfall for the season.

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