Mumbai records fourth-driest August in a decade

Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Ratnagiri districts have been placed under yellow alert for Wednesday, indicating very likely chances of heavy rain at the isolated places

The city saw its heaviest rains in a month on Tuesday, recording 78.44mm of rain in the nine hours ending 5.30pm, as per data from the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) observatory in Santacruz.

A child looks on as Govindas attempt to break a dahi handi on the occasion of Gokulashtami festival, amid heavy downpour at Vile Parle. (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

The total amount of rainfall received this month — until 8.30am on August 31 — now stands at 338.8mm of rain (against the monthly normal of 531.3mm), making it the fourth-driest August in a decade as per IMD records. This follows last year’s above normal reading when August recorded a whopping 1,247.7mm of rain.

Current forecasts suggest that rainfall prospects for Mumbai-MMR over the next two weeks are going to be better than in the previous month, and also the second fortnight of September, although a continuous wet spell appears unlikely. Tuesday’s showers, too, are likely to become subdued by Wednesday, with only light to moderate rain continuing over the next week, according to officials with the IMD’s regional forecasting centre in Mumbai.

“It was a near miss for Mumbai today. Circulation over the north Konkan and south Gujarat area helped to ensure that most of the rain on Tuesday was felt in Thane and Palghar districts. The next few days will bring some relief and then there is another spate of heavy showers expected in a week. The last two weeks of September again the monsoon activity will become subdued,” said a meteorologist with the IMD in Mumbai.

Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Ratnagiri districts have been placed under yellow alert for Wednesday, indicating very likely chances of heavy rain at the isolated places. Palghar district (where over 200mm of rain was recorded in Dahanu on Tuesday morning) has been placed under an orange alert, indicating very likely chances of heavy to very heavy rain very likely on Wednesday.

Mumbai has so far received a total rainfall of 2,421.8mm since July 1, which is 9% over the seasonal normal amount of 2205mm. In August, however, the city saw a deficit of 36%, as did most districts in Maharashtra. Only four districts — Beed, Ahmednagar, Dhule and Aurangabad — saw above-normal rains, while 24 of the state’s 36 districts saw deficits ranging between 20 to 59%. Pune, Satara and Sangli districts saw large deficits of above 60%.

The rains caused a perceptible dip in mercury, with temperatures in both Colaba and Santacruz dipping to 26 degrees Celsius (down from 29.9 degrees Celsius the day prior). The daytime maximum temperature over the next week, however, will rise to about 32 degrees Celsius by September 6, suggests the IMD’s seven-day forecast for Mumbai.

BOX:

Largest August deficits in 10 years:

August 2013: 256mm

August 2015: 153.9mm

August 2018: 235.2mm

August 2021: 338.8mm