After sweating it out on Monday, Mumbaiites were in for a surprise as parts of the city witnessed short-duration thunderstorms in the early hours of Tuesday.

The weather in the city has been oscillating between cool and warm in the last week as minimum temperatures have fluctuated between a low of 14.1 degree Celsius on February 8 at Santacruz to 20.3 degree Celsius on Tuesday.

According to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the easterly wave conditions that prevailed in the southern peninsula resulted in rainfall in north, central and few parts of western Maharashtra, including Mumbai. An easterly wave is a common occurrence, where strong winds moving westwards from east through the southern peninsula cause sudden rainfall. Mulund, Bhandup, Kanjurmarg were some of the areas that witnessed rainfall in the early hours of Tuesday.

"The thrust of the easterly wave was from southern peninsula towards north Maharashtra and this caused thunderstorms in a few regions. This condition is expected to dissipate after 48 hours," said VK Rajeev, director, IMD, western region.

On Tuesday, the minimum temperature at Santacruz was 20.4 degree Celsius which was 2.6 degrees above normal and at Colaba, it was 22.7 degree Celsius which was 2.8 degrees above normal. The maximum temperature at Santacruz was 3.4 degrees above normal at 34.5 degrees Celsius and at Colaba, it was 3.2 degrees warmer that the day's average at 33 degree Celsius. The weathermen expect the warm weather conditions to prevail until cold northerly winds start blowing in during the weekend.

"A western disturbance (extra tropical storm that causes rain and snow in north India) is expected to pass over Jammu and Kashmir by February 17. The temperatures may fall after that," added Rajeev.