Remnants of cyclonic storm Gulab to bring heavy rain to Mumbai today

Mumbai is likely to experience a final spell of heavy rain on Tuesday, before the end of the monsoon, experts and officials cautioned on Monday. This is due to the passage of the remnants of cyclonic storm Gulab, which made landfall over Andhra Pradhesh on Sunday.

The city is likely to experience a final spell of heavy rain on Tuesday, before the end of the monsoon, experts and officials cautioned on Monday. This is due to the passage of the remnants of cyclonic storm Gulab, which made landfall over Andhra Pradhesh on Sunday. The weakened weather system has since been travelling westward, and is expected to bring thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds to parts of Madhya Maharashtra and Konkan as it crosses the region.

Mumbai has been placed under an orange category weather alert for September 28, indicating chances of very heavy rain at isolated places, while Thane and Palghar districts have been placed under a red category weather alert, indicating chances of extremely heavy rain at isolated places (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

Mumbai has been placed under an orange category weather alert for September 28, indicating chances of very heavy rain at isolated places, while Thane and Palghar districts have been placed under a red category weather alert, indicating chances of extremely heavy rain at isolated places. “Citizens should pay attention to these alerts and plan their activities accordingly, as there may be chances of waterlogging in some parts of the city,” said a meteorologist with the India Meteorological Department’s regional forecasting centre in Mumbai. The IMD has also forecast that some affected districts may see strong winds between 30kmph and 40kmph, gusting at 50kmph in isolated places.

In a statement to the press on Monday, the met department stated: “The Deep Depression over south Odisha and adjoining north Andhra Pradesh moved westwards with a speed of 08 kmph during last 06 hours, lay centered at 0830 hrs... over south Odisha and adjoining south Chhattisgarh and 65 km east – northeast of Malkangiri (Odisha). It is likely to move nearly westwards and weaken into a Depression during next 06 hours and into a well-marked low pressure area during subsequent 24 hours.”

Should the weather system cross over into the Arabian Sea, it may pick up in intensity into a strong low-pressure system and lead to formation of another tropical cyclone, experts have warned.

While Mumbai is expected to narrowly miss heavy rain, regions in north Konkan, such as Dahanu, Vasai-Virar, Thane, and Kalyan-Dombivli are expected to be affected to a larger degree. The most intense showers have been predicted between 5pm on Tuesday and 5pm on Wednesday. “As the weather system moves toward Arabian Sea and picks up moisture, the intensity of rainfall will increase over Konkan and central Maharashtra. There is already an active east-west monsoon trough running through the north Konkan region. Hence there is certainly going to be a spike in rainfall. There will be rough weather as much as 75km from the coast of Maharashtra and fishermen have also been warned from venturing out,” said the meteorologist with the IMD.

With Mumbai receiving 39mm of rain during the day on Tuesday, the total rainfall for the entire season (from June 1) stands at 3,036mm, against the seasonal normal of 2,205mm. This is an excess of about 37%, and marks the third consecutive year that Mumbai has received seasonal rainfall in excess of 3,000mm. Counting rains brought by Cyclone Tauktae in May, the total rain for the entire year stands around 3,400mm. Between June and September last year, the city recorded a total 3,687mm of rain, stopping just 70mm short of 2020 being the wettest monsoon on record.