City, suburbs record over 100mm rainfall

The city and suburbs witnessed continuous intense rain spells with loud claps of thunder between Sunday night and Monday morning.

The city and suburbs witnessed continuous intense rain spells with loud claps of thunder between Sunday night and Monday morning.

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The Santacruz weather observatory, representative of the suburbs and Mumbai, recorded 100.7 mm (heavy rain) between 8.30am Sunday and 8.30am Monday, of which 94.3 mm was recorded between 11.30pm Sunday and 8.30am Monday. Through the day, on Monday (8.30am to 5.30pm), rain intensity reduced with 16mm rain.

Heavy overnight rain led to waterlogging, especially across south-central Mumbai and isolated areas in the suburbs.

Location-wise maximum rain over 24-hours was recorded across Santacruz, followed by Dadar at 89.4mm, Worli 86.4mm, Vidyavihar 70.8mm, and Navi Mumbai 52.8mm.

The Colaba weather station, representative of south Mumbai, recorded 60.4mm rain between 8.30am Sunday and 8.30am Monday, of which 54.6mm was recorded between 11.30pm Sunday and 8.30am Monday. However, intense rain spells were recorded on Monday morning with 50.8mm rain within a span of nine hours (8.30am to 5.30pm).

Mumbai suburbs have so far recorded 82% of its seasonal average rain, while south Mumbai recorded 77.4% of its seasonal target between June 1 to July 27, 5.30pm. However, major lakes located in Thane and Nashik supplying water to Mumbai recorded 1mm rain each, over the past 24 hours, while both Tulsi and Vihar recorded 15mm rain each. Only 32% of the required water stock for Mumbai has been achieved from June 1 to July 27. It was 70% by this time last year.

The weather bureau had not issued a heavy rain alert for Sunday night or Monday and only revised its forecast on Monday morning. “Owing to a cloud patch over the Arabian Sea extending over Mumbai and surrounding areas, intense showers were recorded more over the suburbs than south Mumbai, and by early morning extended towards southern parts of the city. These cloud patches are highly localised due to the influence of westerly winds during monsoon, and their intensity is not easily detectable. However, Nowcast and impact-based warnings were issued on early Monday morning itself,” said a senior India Meteorological Department official.

While a yellow alert was issued for the rest of the day on Monday afternoon, the impact-based warning issued at 7.30am, hours after intense rain had already begun, said that intense convective clouds had the potential to cause intense rain spells to the tune of 30-50mm per hour over three hours. The impact expected was localised flooding and traffic may need to be regulated.

Meanwhile, persistent showers allowed a drop in maximum temperatures on Monday falling below the normal mark. South Mumbai recorded 28 degrees Celsius, almost 2 degrees Celsius below normal while the suburbs recorded 29.7 degrees Celsius, 0.4 degree Celsius below normal.

With intermittent sunshine on Monday afternoon and early evening, the weather bureau has predicted light to moderate rain for the city and suburbs for Tuesday to Friday. The weather bureau had revised its forecast thrice last week for heavy rain expected on Saturday but it remained a miss.

AUGUST FIRST WEEK MAY BE A HEAVY RAIN PERIOD

The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) on Monday said with the formation of a weather system over the Bay of Bengal, an increase in rain intensity is expected around August 4-5 onwards for the west coast, including Mumbai.