Cyclone Tauktae to pass Mumbai on Monday; IMD sounds orange alert

Cyclone Tauktae is expected to pass by Mumbai on Monday sometime during late morning to early afternoon, at a distance of about 380kms from the city’s coastline, officials in the India Meteorological Department (IMD) confirmed on Sunday

Cyclone Tauktae is expected to pass by Mumbai on Monday sometime during late morning to early afternoon, at a distance of about 380kms from the city’s coastline, officials in the India Meteorological Department (IMD) confirmed on Sunday.

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Wind speed between 55 and 70kmph (kilometre per hour) is expected to lash the city, along with heavy rainfall at isolated locations.

Light to moderate rains commenced in the city on Sunday night with winds touching 30 to 35kmph speed and gusting up to 52kmph. The shower will increase by late night and may continue till Monday afternoon.

The weather bureau’s initial yellow category storm warning for Mumbai for Sunday has been upgraded to orange category warning for Monday, indicating very likely chances of rough weather.

“The weather system has slowed down a bit after initial forecasts suggested that it would cross Mumbai’s latitude on Sunday. It is now expected to cross the city sometime after 11.30am on Monday, though effects of the cyclone began to be felt on Saturday night itself when wind speeds in Mumbai touched as much as 40kmph. Showers and gusty winds may be felt on Sunday night,” said Jayanta Sarkar, scientist and head of IMD’s regional forecasting centre in Mumbai, on Sunday .

Officials said heavy rainfall due to the cyclone would not pose a major problem to Mumbai’s civic infrastructure.

“But citizens should be mindful of the weather when stepping out, especially along the coast, due to the strong winds,” said KS Hosalikar, senior scientist with IMD in Pune.

“Some wind damage to property cannot be ruled out. Orange alert has also been sounded for Thane and Palghar districts, while Raigad is in the red category because the impact of the rain and winds might be felt more severely due to the district’s hilly topography.”

With the slowing down of the weather system, temperatures in Mumbai remained high on Sunday, with a maximum daytime temperature of 36 degrees Celsius, down from a 10-year high for the month of May at 37.4 degrees Celsius the day prior. This was due to the dense cloud cover that has formed over the city and is acting as a heat trap.

However, mercury is expected to dip to 31 degrees Celsius on Monday after heavy rains.