Mumbai breaches 1,000 mm rainfall mark in August

Despite the orange alert (heavy to very heavy rain) issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for Saturday and yellow alert (heavy rain in isolated areas) for Sunday, Mumbai received only sporadic light showers so far over the weekend.

Mumbai has received over 1,000 mm rainfall during August with more than a week to go till the end of the month. The Santacruz weather observatory, representative of the suburbs and Mumbai, has recorded 1020.1 mm rain between August 1 and 23, and is just 16.4 mm short of breaking the monthly highest rain record for the decade (1036.5 in August 2010).

IMD has downgraded all weather warnings for the coming week with the possibility of light to moderate rain till the end of the month. (HT PHOTO)

Despite the orange alert (heavy to very heavy rain) issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for Saturday and yellow alert (heavy rain in isolated areas) for Sunday, Mumbai received only sporadic light showers so far over the weekend. Between 8.30 am Saturday and 8.30 am Sunday, 14.2 mm rain was recorded in the suburbs while 3 mm rain was recorded in south Mumbai.

IMD has downgraded all weather warnings for the coming week with the possibility of light to moderate rain till the end of the month. “The impact of the low pressure weather system over central India was more towards the interior Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh region, the coastal areas, especially north Konkan including Mumbai saw only passing showers. However, more rain was recorded over parts of south Konkan and central Maharashtra districts,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director general, western region, IMD.

Hosalikar added that some areas towards the northwestern suburbs of Mumbai received moderate showers ranging between 40-70 mm. “Satellite images are now showing dense cloud cover over the Gujarat region, which may lead to extremely heavy showers but only a few passing showers are expected for Mumbai and surrounding areas,” he said.

Meanwhile, the city is also just 79 mm short of surpassing the 3,000 mm mark for the season. Between June 1 and August 21, the suburbs and south Mumbai have recorded 66% and 67% excess rain than the normal for this period. Maharashtra overall has recorded 19% excess rain for the season so far. Lakes supplying drinking water to Mumbai stand at 92.3%.

Across the state, maximum rain over the past 24 hours was recorded at Mahabaleshwar at 48 mm followed by Dahanu 28 mm, Ratnagiri 22 mm, Thane 20 mm, and Akola 20 mm.