Monsoon arrives in Maha; Mumbai receives light showers

Meanwhile, the city’s atmosphere continued to boil with a daytime maximum temperature of 38.3 degrees Celsius on Sunday, which is 5 degrees Celsius above normal. The monsoon on Sunday also covered Goa and Karnataka in their entirety, with parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh

Mumbai: The southwest monsoon entered Maharashtra on Sunday, a day after its normal onset date of June 10. Gusty winds, overcast weather and light showers were also felt in parts of Mumbai on Sunday evening, though the India Meteorological Department (IMD) did not declare the onset of the monsoon over the city. The normal date for this is June 11.

Mumbai, India - June 11, 2023: A rainbow in Parel makes for a special sight in the evening on the first day of rain in Mumbai, India, on Sunday, June 11, 2023. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

“The IMD does not make city-specific forecasts. Right now, the northern limit of the monsoon is at Ratnagiri, covering parts of the south Konkan and south-central Maharashtra. It is very likely to advance further into the state in the next 48 hours, but the progress will depend on the movement of Cyclone Biparjoy in the Arabian Sea. What I can say for Mumbai, and the adjoining Konkan region, is that there is a chance of thunderstorm activity over the next four to five days,” said KS Hosalikar, head of climate research and services at the IMD in Pune.

Meanwhile, the city’s atmosphere continued to boil with a daytime maximum temperature of 38.3 degrees Celsius on Sunday, which is 5 degrees Celsius above normal. This was down only slightly from 38.5 degrees Celsius a day prior, marking Mumbai’s hottest June day in at least a decade, with some independent forecasters claiming it to be the city’s hottest June day on record. IMD officials did not clarify whether the latter claim is indeed true, saying they would have to cross-check with previous years’ data.

The monsoon on Sunday also covered Goa and Karnataka in their entirety, with parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. On Sunday, the northern limit stood at Ratnagiri, Shimoga, Hassan, Dharampuri, Sriharikota and Dubhari.

With more than a third of June having passed, Mumbai has yet to overcome its monthly rainfall deficit. On Sunday morning, Santacruz had received 0 mm of rain since June 1, against the seasonal normal of 111mm. The IMD’s coastal station in Colaba had received just 0.6mm of rain since June 1 as of Sunday morning, against the seasonal normal of 110.2mm.

This deficit is not confined to Mumbai or Konkan alone. “One-third of June is gone, but the performance of the monsoon in India remains extremely disappointing. The all-India rainfall departure between 1 and 10 June is -61% and 29 out of 36 subdivisions have received deficient or large deficient rainfall,” said Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, UK.