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Parts of Mumbai see drizzles, lightning and strong winds
Several parts of suburban Mumbai and its neighbouring areas witnessed light rainfall and strong winds on Thursday evening, as a trough intensified over western Maharashtra
Several parts of suburban Mumbai and its neighbouring areas witnessed light rainfall and strong winds on Thursday evening, as a trough intensified over western Maharashtra.
Light to moderate showers were recorded in parts of Andheri, Malad and Dahisar. Strong winds were reported along the western suburbs. Neighbouring areas such as Vashi, Mansarovar and Kamothe in Navi Mumbai also witnessed moderate rainfall along with strong winds.
Earlier this week, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted rainfall, accompanied by thunderstorm and lightning, in parts of interior Maharashtra from Wednesday, owing to a cyclonic circulation over north and central Maharashtra.
“The cyclonic circulation has intensified and moved westward. It now lies over south central Maharashtra and its neighbourhood at 0.9km above mean sea level. This caused the spell of rainfall and winds in several parts of Mumbai and neighbouring areas,” said Shubhangi Bhute, scientist, IMD, adding that the weather will clear up on Friday.
Meanwhile, temperatures in the city remained fairly high. The Santacruz station of IMD, which is indicative of the temperature of Mumbai and the suburbs, recorded a minimum temperature of 20.4 degrees Celsius, which was 2 degrees above normal. The Colaba station, which is representative of south Mumbai, recorded the minimum temperature of 21.5 degrees Celsius, which was a degree above normal.
The maximum temperature at Santacruz was 32.7 degrees Celsius – 2 degrees above normal – and 30.8 degrees Celsius at Colaba, which was a degree above normal.
The air quality dropped to the poor category from the satisfactory category early this week. An overall air quality index (AQI) of 208 was recorded on Thursday, up from Tuesday’s 98.
AQI is a pollution measuring indicator and is calculated by the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) as the average of indices recorded at 10 locations in and around Mumbai. SAFAR categorises AQI levels for PM2.5 in the 0-50 range as good; 51-100 as satisfactory; 101-200 as moderate; 201-300 as poor; 301-400 as very poor and above 400 as severe.
Of the 10 locations measured, Andheri and Malad had the worst air quality with an AQI of 313 (very poor), followed by Colaba with an AQI of 297 (poor).
“Mumbai’s air quality will be in the moderate category for the next two days owing to the polluted air coming from west India,” said a short-range forecast by SAFAR.
