City records season’s coldest day as mercury dips to 18.9°C

Mumbai experienced its coldest day of the season with a minimum temperature of 18.9°C, one degree above normal. The maximum temperature was 35.5°C, three degrees above normal. The diurnal range of temperatures is due to easterly winds and lack of clouds. The low temperatures are expected to continue for two more days before slightly rising. Air quality in Mumbai improved slightly on Sunday, with an AQI of 166, moderate due to PM2.5 and O3 particles. Bandra Kurla Complex and Malad West had poor air quality.

Mumbai: The people of Mumbai woke up to the coldest day of the season on Sunday, as the minimum temperature dropped to 18.9 degrees Celsius, one degree above normal. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the maximum temperature was around 35.5 degrees– three degrees above normal.

HT Image

Last year, on December 24, the city recorded the minimum temperature at 16 degrees Celsius and January 16, 2023, saw the coldest day of the last winter season with the temperature dipping to 13.8°C. Mumbai (then called Bombay) experienced its coldest day ever on January 22, 1962, at 7.4 degrees Celsius.

The cause of such a wide range in temperatures now called the diurnal range, is the predominance of the easterly winds, explained Sushma Nair, scientist at India Meteorological Department (IMD) Mumbai. “Because the dry easterly winds are flowing at the lower levels, the temperature will not go very low. But as the city is also relatively cloud-free, temperatures reach high digits in the day and are getting pleasant at night.”

These low temperatures are forecasted to remain for another two days, slightly rising to a minimum of 20 to 21 degrees Celsius. The unusually warmer weather is in line with the IMD’s long-range forecast at the beginning of the month, as the factors for low temperatures are absent, in other parts of the country too.

Lower temperatures may be a possibility in the first week of January, said Nair. Meanwhile, as a break from the ever-worsening air quality, Mumbai’s AQI saw a slight improvement on Sunday. As opposed to 189 on Friday and 190 on Saturday, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) placed the air quality at 166, moderate due to the prevalence of PM2.5 and O3 particles.

While most stations had their air in the moderate category, Bandra Kurla Complex and Malad West had poor air quality, at 233 and 260 respectively, due to PM2.5 particles. The BMC’s station at Govandi showed a reading of 242, an improvement from the very poor quality on Saturday.

According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the same areas of Malad and Kalanagar, BKC had poor air, at 229 and 233, due to PM2.5 particles.