Low-intensity rain to continue, heavy showers not expected till weekend: IMD

The city is likely to witness intermittent light to moderate rain spells over the week but intense heavy showers are not expected till the weekend, the weather bureau

The city is likely to witness intermittent light to moderate rain spells over the week but intense heavy showers are not expected till the weekend, the weather bureau said.

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The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) district rainfall forecast for the next four days showed light to moderate rain for Tuesday followed by very light to light rain from Wednesday to Friday.

“Reduction in rain intensity is due to the lack of prominent weather systems developing over Bay of Bengal that aids the monsoon current, strong wind pattern and allows the offshore trough to be active. However, none of these factors are there at the moment for the Konkan coast, especially the Mumbai region,” said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, IMD director-general. “Over the next four to five days we are not expecting any intense rain activity for the Mumbai region.”

So far there has been only one intense rain spell on June 18 that led to 41 mm rain in the suburbs and 44 mm in south Mumbai. After that, only sporadic showers mostly during the night or early morning have been witnessed.

Between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm Monday, south Mumbai 5.2 mm rain while negligible rain was recorded in the suburbs. Over the last 24 hours (8.30 am Sunday and 8.30 am Monday), 12.5 mm was recorded in the suburbs and 0.6 mm in south Mumbai.

After a lull in rain intensity, total rain recorded so far since June 1 was 7.3 mm below normal or deficient rain for the suburbs. The Santacruz weather station has so far recorded 303.4 mm rain against the normal of 310.7 mm for the period June 1 to June 22. However, south Mumbai has recorded 26.3 mm excess rain with 369.5 mm against the normal of 343.2 mm for the period.

Independent meteorologists said the Mumbai Metropolitan Region would witness sultry weather throughout the week along with a partly cloudy sky.

“There will be passing light rain until June 23, following which further reduction in the rain activity will occur. Showers might increase during the weekend,” said Akshay Deoras, independent meteorologist and PhD researcher at the University of Reading, United Kingdom adding that the offshore trough (weather system) had weakened. “There is a significant reduction in moisture levels over Mumbai. In addition, a break-monsoon type situation (period when intense monsoon rainfall activity shifts to the foothills of the Himalayas) is expected in India this week, which would keep rainfall in Maharashtra (including Mumbai) on the lower side,” said Deoras.

The maximum temperature in the suburbs was 2 degrees Celsius above normal at 33.3 degrees Celsius while the minimum temperature was 25.6 degrees Celsius, a degree Celsius below normal. South Mumbai recorded 32.8 degrees Celsius as the maximum temperature and 27.7 degrees Celsius as the minimum, both a degree Celsius above normal.