Heavy rains, says IMD after failed forecast

A cyclonic circulation travelling towards the north Madhya Maharashtra and Konkan regions and an offshore trough along the West Coast will be contributors. Thereafter, the intensity of rainfall may decrease again. Moderate rains will continue

Mumbai: After the “orange” alert issued by the Indian Metrological Department (IMD) on Wednesday (July 5) was downgraded to a “yellow” alert, an “orange” alert was again issued for Thursday (July 6), signifying heavy to heavy rainfall.

On July 6, 7 and 8, there may be heavy rain in the triple digits, with the maximum occurring on July 7. (Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

“This does not necessitate continuous rain all day,” said Sushma Nair, a scientist with IMD, Mumbai. “But a spell that can lead to heavy rain of 110mm or above.”

The Wednesday alert was downgraded as the cyclonic circulation over the south of Gujarat weakened.

In the 24 hours till 8:30am on Wednesday, Colaba recorded 33mm of rain and Santacruz 90mm. With less rainfall in the catchment areas of the seven lakes, the lake levels increased from 17.66% on Tuesday 6am to 17.99% on Wednesday 6am.

“On July 6, 7 and 8, there may be heavy rain in the triple digits, with the maximum occurring on July 7,” Mahesh Palawat, vice president (meteorology and climate change) at Skymet Weather said. A cyclonic circulation travelling towards the north Madhya Maharashtra and Konkan regions and an offshore trough along the West Coast will be contributors. “Thereafter, the intensity of rainfall may decrease again. Moderate rains will continue.”

The IMD’s forecast added, “Maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 29 degrees Celsius and 25 degrees Celsius respectively.”

By 6pm on Wednesday, the city had received an average rainfall of 2.7mm in the island city, 2.19mm in the eastern suburbs and 5.58mm in the western suburbs.