Mumbai hottest in country on Tuesday, Wednesday

The streak of hot weather continued on Thursday as the night temperature recorded was 5 degrees Celsius above normal, making it the city’s second-highest minimum temperature during December in 10 years.

Mumbai was identified as the hottest location in India on Tuesday and Wednesday by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The streak of hot weather continued on Thursday as the night temperature recorded was 5 degrees Celsius above normal, making it the city’s second-highest minimum temperature during December in 10 years.

The day temperature fell by almost 2 degrees Celsius on Thursday both in the suburbs and south Mumbai. (HT FILE)

According to IMD, the highest maximum temperature recorded in India on Tuesday was at the Santacruz weather observatory, representative of the suburbs and Mumbai, at 36.4 degrees Celsius, which is almost 4 degrees Celsius above normal, followed by Karwar in Karnataka at 36.1 degrees Celsius and Ratnagiri in Maharashtra at 35.4 degrees Celsius. On Wednesday, Santacruz recorded 36 degrees Celsius respectively, 3.4 degree Celsius above normal, the highest maximum in India followed by Ratnagiri at 35.5 degrees Celsius and Karwar at 34.8 degrees Celsius. The hottest location within Mumbai on Wednesday was Charkop at 36.3 degrees Celsius.

The day temperature fell by almost 2 degrees Celsius on Thursday both in the suburbs and south Mumbai. While the Santacruz observatory recorded 33.8 degrees Celsius, 1 degree Celsius above normal, as compared to 36 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, Colaba observatory recorded the temperature at 32.2 degrees Celsius, which fell 0.5 degree Celsius below the normal mark.

“A combination of factors such as warm and dry easterly winds from over central India moved over the city as well as the very late setting in of sea breeze on both Tuesday and Wednesday led to the rise in maximum temperature, much beyond any other location in the central Indian plains or the west coast,” said Bishwambhar Singh, director, regional meteorological centre, IMD, Mumbai.

Meanwhile, owing to cloudy conditions during early Thursday morning, the Santacruz weather observatory recorded the minimum temperature at 24 degrees Celsius, 5 degrees Celsius above normal. It increased by 4 degrees Celsius from Wednesday’s 20 degrees Celsius. This was the second-highest December minimum temperature in 10 years as the highest was recorded last year on December 5 at 25.3 degrees Celsius. The city had also recorded 25.2 degrees Celsius on December 1, 2008.

The Colaba weather observatory, representative of south Mumbai, also recorded a high minimum temperature at 25 degrees Celsius, 4 degrees Celsius above normal. Location-specific minimum temperatures across the city were above 20 degrees Celsius or above the normal mark. “Warmer conditions since Thursday morning were due to the effect of a cloudy sky. Cloud cover had formed due to a low pressure weather system over southeast Arabian Sea indicating a significant cloud mass over the sea areas, allowing peripheral weather activity along the west coast. We have issued a forecast for partly cloudy sky with possibility of very light rain or drizzle for Mumbai for Thursday,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director general, western region, IMD.

Parts of the city such as Santacruz, Powai, Goregaon, Mulund and a few other areas witnessed light drizzle late on Wednesday night with traces of rain reported at Santacruz. However, no rain was recorded at the Colaba weather station. While generally cloudy conditions have been predicted for Mumbai till the weekend, a forecast of very light to light rain was issued by IMD for Thane and Palghar for Friday.

Meanwhile, the air quality index (AQI) in Mumbai on Thursday was 152 (moderate), marginally higher than Wednesday’s 149 (moderate). It is expected to be 142 (moderate) on Friday.

POSSIBILITY OF HAILSTORM IN PARTS OF NORTH MAHARASHTRA

The IMD on Thursday issued a forecast for the probability of rain, thunderstorms, and even hailstorms over parts of north central Maharashtra between Friday and Sunday across areas of Dhule, Nandurbar, Nashik, and Jalgaon. “The likeliness of this is as a result of the low pressure weather system in the southeast Arabian Sea that can activate weather factors leading to such weather activity in the coming days,” said Shubhangi Bhute, director, regional meteorological centre, IMD, Mumbai.