At 35.3°C, Mumbai sees hottest January day of 2021

With mercury touching 35

With mercury touching 35.3 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, the city recorded its hottest January day, so far this year. The maximum temperature has already crossed last year’s highest maximum temperature in January of 34.5 degrees Celsius.

Skyline at Worli on Tuesday. (Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)

The maximum the temperature at Santacruz station of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded a maximum temperature of 35.3 degrees Celsius, which was 5.1 degrees above normal. This was higher than Monday’s 34.5 degrees Celsius. Colaba recorded a maximum temperature of 32.8 degrees Celsius, which was 3.3 degrees above normal.

Minimum temperatures, too, remained high on Tuesday, albeit slightly lower than Monday’s record high. Santacruz recorded a minimum temperature of 22.5 degrees Celsius, a good 5.6 degrees above normal and 0.5 degrees below Monday’s temperature. At Colaba, the minimum temperature was 23.4 degrees Celsius, only 0.1 degrees below Monday’s record and 5.4 degrees above normal.

“Usually, cold wave in the state and city is because of the cold wind coming in from north India. This year, however, there is a change in wind patterns. Warm easterly winds from Telangana and Tamil Nadu are causing temperatures to rise,” said a senior official from IMD, western region.

Meanwhile, according to the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), with days becoming hotter, pollution levels have dipped further. An overall air quality index (AQI)—a pollutant measuring indicator— of 218 was measured on Tuesday. Although the air quality remains in the poor category, it has improved from Monday’s 256 and Sunday’s 301 (very poor).

Navi Mumbai recorded the poorest air of the 10 locations with an AQI of 319 (very poor). This was followed by Colaba with an AQI of 306, also very poor. At Bandra Kurla Complex, an AQI of 300 was measured.

“The air quality of Mumbai is in the poor category which is likely to further improve marginally by Wednesday. However, it may continue to remain in the poor category and desired relief is not expected for the next three days due to calm wind and relatively colder conditions,” said a spokesperson from SAFAR.