Mumbai sees wettest March day in 17 years
The city saw widespread showers in the early hours of Tuesday, with the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) base weather station recording 17mm of rain as of 8:30am, while the station in Colaba saw 25mm of rain
Mumbai: The city saw widespread showers in the early hours of Tuesday, with the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) base weather station recording 17mm of rain as of 8:30am, while the station in Colaba saw 25mm of rain. This marks the city’s wettest March day in at least 17 years. The last time Mumbai saw such a rainy day in March was in 2006, when Santacruz recorded 13.1mm of rain. The mean normal rainfall for March, between 1991 and 2020, is just 0.1mm.
Other stations, part of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) network of rain gauges, also saw similar readings, with Chembur recording 25mm of rain, Worli getting 29mm, Sion getting 25mm, and Bandra getting 13mm. South Mumbai received heavier spells, and Grant Road getting up to 42mm of rain, Mumba Devi getting 38mm, Byculla getting 35mm, and Girgaon and Malabar Hill getting 31mm each.
“Passing western disturbances are bringing cool air over the region. There has been a sudden incursion of moisture over the city due to westerly winds this morning, and thunder and lightning may also have been seen in some places. Pleasant weather will continue for another two or three days, and after that we will have to see which way the wind blows,” said Sushma Nair, scientist with the IMD’s regional forecasting centre in Mumbai.
Below normal temperatures in the city continued for a fourth consecutive day, with Santacruz recording a peak temperature of 31.6 degrees Celsius (two degrees below normal) on Tuesday. Just days ago, on March 12, the city was the hottest location in the country at 39.4 degrees Celsius, which was a whopping six degrees above normal. Mumbai’s cleanest spell of pollution in five months also continued for a third day on the trot, with the System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) recording a ‘satisfactory’ air quality index (AQI) value of 92 on Tuesday. As per the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) daily AQI bulletin, Mumbai recorded an index value of 91 (also ‘satisfactory’).