Mumbai ups chill factor on coldest Jan day in decade

At 25.3 degrees Celsius, Thursday was the coldest January day in Mumbai in at least 10 years. The lowest maximum temperature recorded in the city before Thursday,

At 25.3 degrees Celsius, Thursday was the coldest January day in Mumbai in at least 10 years. The lowest maximum temperature recorded in the city before Thursday, in the past decade, was 26 degrees Celsius on January 12, 2014. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has records for Mumbai’s lowest maximum and highest minimum temperatures only since 2009.

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The weather bureau said “cool conditions” would continue in Mumbai on Friday, too, with the possibility of the minimum temperature dropping to 14 degrees Celsius. On Thursday, the minimum temperature was 15.4 degrees Celsius.

IMD had on Sunday predicted a substantial decline in temperatures for Thursday and Friday. “Both the maximum and minimum temperatures have witnessed a steady decline over the past six days, falling much below the normal mark owing to cold and dry winds from northern parts of the country,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director general, western region, IMD. “We issued a cold weather advisory for Mumbai on Thursday that the minimum temperature is likely to fall to 14 degrees Celsius on Friday morning, which will also be this season’s lowest.”

Location-wise minimum temperatures on Thursday showed that Borivli was the coldest at 13 degrees Celsius, followed by Goregaon at 14 degrees Celsius; Kandivli at 15 degrees Celsius. In Navi Mumbai, Panvel was the coldest at 12 degrees Celsius.

“Not just Mumbai, but the cold spell is likely to prevail across several areas in north Maharashtra on Friday as temperatures are expected to rise gradually from the weekend onwards,” said Hosalikar.

Meanwhile, pollution levels, too, were at their lowest for the year as the air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 77, falling under the ‘satisfactory’ category, for the pollutant PM2.5 in Mumbai. Air quality researchers said pollution levels dipped as the high wind speed dispersed pollutants.

A clear sky has been forecast for Friday, with the maximum and minimum temperatures expected to be 26 and 14 degrees Celsius, and an AQI of 81 (satisfactory).