‘Mumbai likely to witness thunderstorm with lightning on Tuesday’: IMD

Heavy rain warnings with thunder and lightning are in place for Thane till Thursday, Palghar till Wednesday, and Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg till Friday.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a ‘yellow alert’ - for thunderstorm and lightning - for Mumbai for Tuesday.

Dark rain clouds over the skyline seen from Marine Drive in Mumbai. (Pratik Chorge/HT PHOTO)

A yellow alert had been issued for Monday too but no rain was recorded in the city and suburbs between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm.

Heavy rain warnings with thunder and lightning are in place for Thane till Thursday, Palghar till Wednesday, and Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg till Friday.

The weather bureau said the formation of a fresh low-pressure weather system over the Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify rain activity over central India, interior Maharashtra and the Konkan coast.

“Presently, a well-marked low-pressure area persists over west-central Arabian Sea, and as a result of this, an associated upper cyclonic circulation may lead to rain over the next 24 to 48 hours over the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). However, rainfall during the latter half of the week is due to the low pressure forming over the Bay of Bengal,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director-general, western region, IMD.

Meanwhile, owing to cloud cover early Monday morning the minimum temperature in Mumbai was 3 degrees Celsius above normal at 26.2 degrees Celsius. However, partly cloudy skies through the day kept the day temperature 2 degrees Celsius below normal at 31.6 degrees Celsius. South Mumbai recorded the minimum temperature at 26.5 degrees Celsius, 2 degree Celsius above normal while 32 degrees Celsius was the maximum temperature, a degree Celsius below normal.

The air quality index (AQI) was 63 (satisfactory) on Monday and is expected to be 58 (satisfactory) on Tuesday.