Less than 24 hours after Cyclone Nisarga passed over the city and the west coast, the after effects of the weather system was witnessed across Mumbai on Thursday morning, with the skies turning cloudy, even as continuous rains lashed the city with occasional thunder.
The quantum of rain recorded by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed that till 5.30pm, Colaba and Santacruz weather stations received ‘rather heavy rain’ at 49.6mm and 46.5mm respectively. IMD classifies rainfall between 35.6mm and 64.4mm as ‘rather heavy’.
Between Wednesday 8.30am and Thursday 8.30am, the city recorded low rainfall at 24.8mm in the suburbs, as compared to 50mm rainfall at the Colaba weather station. Weather experts said south Mumbai received more rainfall because Cyclone Nisarga made landfall to the south of Alibag in Raigad district, which brought its path close to the Island city.
According to weathermen, the rainfall, with heavy showers on some occasions, witnessed over Mumbai on Thursday was a combination of the post-cyclone effect and monsoonal winds blowing on the west coast. When a cyclone passes, it leaves a lot of moisture over land. The relative humidity levels at 8.30am stood at 92% in Colaba and 87% in Santacruz.
“When such a huge weather system (cyclone) passes, it leaves behind a remnant effect in the form of very high humidity levels and moisture content over the entire coast, including Mumbai, Thane and Raigad. In addition, there are strong westerlies coming over Mumbai and the entire west coast as the Indian summer monsoon season has begun, pumping a lot of moisture,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director general, Mumbai region, IMD, adding that both these factors can result in heavy showers.
{{/usCountry}}“When such a huge weather system (cyclone) passes, it leaves behind a remnant effect in the form of very high humidity levels and moisture content over the entire coast, including Mumbai, Thane and Raigad. In addition, there are strong westerlies coming over Mumbai and the entire west coast as the Indian summer monsoon season has begun, pumping a lot of moisture,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director general, Mumbai region, IMD, adding that both these factors can result in heavy showers.
{{/usCountry}}By evening, however, the skies cleared and the rains stopped.
The maximum temperature recorded in the suburbs was 29.7 degrees Celsius, while Island city recorded 29.2 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperatures at Santacruz and Colaba weather stations were 25.4 and 25.8 degrees Celsius respectively. IMD forecasts cloudy skies with light and moderate rain and thundershowers in the city, and suburbs with heavy rain at isolated places, on Friday.
“Skies will be partly clear tomorrow. However, the available moisture and rise in temperatures will lead to a build-up of convective clouds, which is likely to result in short spells of thundershowers at some places in Mumbai,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice-president, climate and meteorology, Skymet Weather, private met forecaster.