City records highest 24-hour September rain in 4 years

The city recorded its highest 24-hour rainfall figures for September in the last four years after the heavy downpour continued all of Tuesday, leading to Wednesday morning

The city recorded its highest 24-hour rainfall figures for September in the last four years after the heavy downpour continued all of Tuesday, leading to Wednesday morning.

Between 8.30am on Tuesday and the same time on Wednesday, the weather station at Santacruz, recorded 142.6mm rain (representative of Mumbai) while Colaba charted only 37.4mm.

The highest 24-hour rainfall figure for September in the past 10 years was recorded on September 4, 2012 at 185.2 mm. However, the all-time high record was observed on September 23, 1981 at 318.2mm.

The city saw less of overnight rainfall when compared to the heavy downpour on Tuesday when 111.6mm rain was recorded at Santacruz in just 12 hours.

Under the IMD’s new classification, 15.6mm to 64.4mm rain is considered moderate, 64.5mm to 115.5mm is heavy, 115.6mm to 204.4mm is very heavy and more than 204.5mm is extreme.

Weathermen on Wednesday said that the city can expect the thick cloud cover to continue with chances of heavy to very heavy rainfall in the next 48 hours (beginning Wednesday morning).

“The southwest monsoon along both the west and east coast is active. The upper air cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal is pulling moisture from the Arabian Sea and giving rise to such weather conditions,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director general, western region, India Meteorological Department.

Meanwhile, between Tuesday and Wednesday, Dahanu recorded an all-time high rainfall reading for the month of September as 528.6mm rain, going beyond the extreme rain category. Previously, the all time high for the month was 481mm in 1958. Other areas that recorded heavy rain were Mahabaleshwar, Alibaug, Ratnagiri and some parts of interior Maharashtra.

Mumbai recorded night temperatures below normal levels for a second day in a row with Colaba recording 23.8 degrees Celsius, 1.2 degree Celsius below normal while Santacruz stood at 22 degree Celsius 14 — almost 3 degrees below normal

Moisture levels remained high on Wednesday morning as Colaba and Santacruz recorded 98% and 96% humidity, respectively.

Rain reach

Highest 24-hour rainfall figures for September in Mumbai (Santacruz station representative of Mumbai)

Date Rain (in mm)

September 21, 2016 142.6

September 15, 2015 33.1

September 1, 2014 115.8

September 22, 2013 43.9

September 3, 2012 185.3 (highest in decade)

September 23, 1981 318.2 (all-time high)

(Source: IMD)