Record-breaking monsoon this year for Mumbai, red alert for tomorrow

Even with another 12 days to go till the end of the season, more heavy showers have been predicted for Mumbai.

Despite a 15-day delay in onset, Mumbai has recorded its wettest monsoon ever. A series of rain records were broken this season with five major extreme weather events that took the rain tally to its all-time high for the season and the year. Even with another 12 days to go till the end of the season, more heavy showers have been predicted for the city.

Mumbai has recorded its wettest monsoon ever this season and this year. (Satish Bate/HT Photo)

The southwest monsoon spans across four months for Mumbai from June to September, with seasonal average rainfall at 2,317.2mm and annual average of 2,514mm. Hindustan Times takes a look at some of major records broken over the past few months.

RECORDS MADE, BROKEN

1. Rain during the first four days in September was a whopping 496.5mm, against the average rainfall for the month at 327.1mm.

2. The city saw the second-highest single day July rain (375.2mm) in 45 years, highest in 14 years between July 1 and 2.

3. With 1,464.8 mm rain recorded from July 1 to July 31, Mumbai recorded its highest rainfall total for July over the past five years and second highest since 1901. Mumbai had recorded 1,468.5 mm rainfall in July 2014, which is the all-time high July monthly rainfall.

4. On August 4, Mumbai surpassed its seasonal average of 2,317.2mm (June to August 4) after three major rain spells and took the rain tally to 2,374.2 mm.

5. While the city did not surpass its August average rainfall this year, it still recorded 458mm rain from August 1 to 5 against the month’s average of 585.2mm.

6. The Santacruz weather station, representative of the suburbs and Mumbai, recorded 36.2 degrees Celsius, its highest all-time July day temperature on July 19 since the India Meteorological Department (IMD) began keeping records.

6. On September 4, Mumbai recorded its cleanest air day since air monitoring began in the city as the air quality index (AQI) plunged to its lowest at 12, falling under the ‘good’ category, according to the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).Prior to Wednesday, Mumbai recorded an AQI of 13 on June 25, 2018.