Sultry Oct has city breaking into a sweat

Even as the India Meteorological department on Tuesday confirmed the withdrawal of monsoon from the city...

Even as the India Meteorological department IMD on Tuesday confirmed the withdrawal of monsoon from the city, a sudden change in wind direction sent day and night temperatures soaring, giving Mumbaiites a taste of the typical October heat.

Though rains disappeared from the city after a few spells of thundershowers in the second week of September, it was on Tuesday that the IMD officially confirmed the end of the monsoon season. And, according to IMD officials, a sudden change in the direction of winds from westerly to easterly, coupled with high post-monsoon humidity, has sent the day temperatures soaring up to 36 degree Celsius and the night temperatures up to 25 degree Celsius over the past few days.

October in Mumbai is referred to as the 8216;second summer8217; with temperatures closely competing with that of March, April and May. K Sathi Devi, director of IMD, Mumbai, said: 8220;By October, the monsoon system slowly withdraws from the western and southern regions. Mumbai stops enjoying its cool westerly sea breeze, which is replaced by the dry and hot landward easterlies. Besides, the sky is virtually cloudless this month and as a result, the mercury soars.8221;

While it is usual for the maximum temperatures to rise up to 35-37 degrees this month, Mumbai has never seen the minimum temperatures rising to 25 degrees over the past decade, according to IMD statistics. Between 1998 and 2007, the highest minimum temperature for October recorded in the city was 23.6 degrees Celsius 8212; on October 8, 2000 as well as October 2, 2006. On Tuesday, the city8217;s minimum temperature touched 25 and 24.5 degrees Celsius in Colaba and Santacruz, respectively.

Sathi Devi said, 8220;While we are expecting the north-eastern monsoon winds to hit the southern states soon, Mumbai won8217;t have respite from the hot weather for a while, unless some stray system causes thundershowers.8221;

The IMD forecasts clear skies and maximum and minimum temperatures hovering around 36 and 25 degree Celsius, respectively, till Thursday.