At 13.6°C, city sees month’s second-lowest temperature

The city witnessed its second-lowest minimum temperature in January on Thursday.

The city witnessed its second-lowest minimum temperature in January on Thursday.

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The minimum temperature at the Santacruz weather station dropped to 13.6 degrees Celsius, 5 degrees below normal, while Colaba recorded 16 degrees Celsius, 3 degrees below normal.

On Wednesday, Mumbai had recorded a minimum temperature of 19 degrees Celsius, which means the city witnessed a 6-degree drop within 24 hours. The weather bureau has attributed this to cold winds from northern parts of the country.

The minimum temperature in other parts of the city was much lower, with Borivli recording 10.9 degrees Celsius, followed by Goregaon at 12.4 degrees Celsius, and Powai at 12.5 degrees Celsius, on Thursday.

On January 17, Mumbai had recorded a minimum temperature of 11.4 degrees Celsius, which is the coldest January morning since 2012, and the coldest this season.

The weather bureau said cool weather was likely to continue through the weekend. “Mumbai and surrounding areas recorded one of the coldest mornings again in January, with minimum temperatures going far below the benchmark at many places, especially in the suburbs,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director-general, western region, India Meteorological Department (IMD).

For the second consecutive day on Thursday, the maximum temperature was below 30 degrees Celsius. Suburbs recorded 28.9 degrees Celsius, which was almost 3 degrees below normal, while south Mumbai recorded 28 degrees Celsius, 2.3 degrees below normal.

The minimum temperature at many locations in interior north-central Maharashtra was below 10 degrees Celsius on Thursday, with Nashik and Jalgaon being the coldest at 7.9 and 8.5 degrees Celsius respectively.

Meanwhile, the air quality index (AQI) moved back into the ‘moderate’ category on Thursday at 150. On Wednesday it had dropped to 78 (satisfactory). Air quality researchers said lowering of temperatures has allowed the boundary layer of pollutants to marginally increase and move closer to the surface. An AQI of 141 (moderate) has been predicted for Friday.