Mumbai under orange alert till Friday: IMD

The city woke up to continuing showers on Monday, a day after a second thunderstorm deposited nearly 235mm of rain over Mumbai in just a few hours

The city woke up to continuing showers on Monday, a day after a second thunderstorm deposited nearly 235mm of rain over Mumbai in just a few hours.

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Rainfall intensity has, however, markedly reduced, with the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) monitoring station in Santacruz recording 70.4mm of rain in the 24 hours ending 8.30am Monday, and another 35.2mm of rain in the subsequent eight hours. At 1pm on Monday, IMD upgraded its orange alert (heavy to very heavy rain at a few places) for Mumbai to a red (storm) alert. However, an orange category alert remains in place till Friday.

The city has so far received 920mm of rain this month, against the seasonal normal of 827mm. Since June 1, the city has received about 1,951mm of rain, which is about 88% of the seasonal normal up to September-end.

“The southwesterly monsoon flow is expected to strengthen, and the rainfall distribution and activity is expected to increase over the region, parts of Konkan, Goa and the adjoining ghat areas of central Maharashtra,” an IMD statement on Monday read. This is due to a combination of multiple weather systems, including an off-shore monsoon trough at sea level running from Maharashtra to Karnataka along coast, which will persist for the next three to four days.

There is also a cyclonic circulation lying over the south Gujarat region, about 3.5km above mean sea level, along with a low-pressure area over the northwest Bay of Bengal, which is expected to form around Friday. Due to active monsoon conditions, squally weather, with wind speed reaching 45-55 kmph (km per hour) and gusting to 65 kmph is likely to prevail along the Maharashtra-Goa coast, IMD said.