Weekend thundershowers in Mumbai, second-highest 24-hour October rain in a decade

On October 13, 2011, Mumbai had recorded 71 mm while 140.8 mm rain was recorded on October 4, 1988, which is the all-time high 24-hour monthly rain.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) witnessed cloud cover, loud claps of thunder, lightning and two spells of moderate to heavy showers between Saturday evening and early Sunday morning.

File photo: People deal with rain at Gateway of India at Colaba in Mumbai. (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

The Santacruz weather observatory, representative of Mumbai and the suburbs, recorded 55.8 mm rain over 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Sunday, which is the second-highest 24-hour October rain in a decade and highest since 2012.

On October 13, 2011, Mumbai had recorded 71 mm while 140.8 mm rain was recorded on October 4, 1988, which is the all-time high 24-hour monthly rain.

The weather bureau had issued a ‘yellow alert’ for Saturday and predicted thunderstorms during the evening and late-night. On Saturday, dense cloud cover from 5.30 pm onwards were seen over parts of Kalyan followed by rain over parts of Navi Mumbai, Thane and then the Mumbai suburbs and finally south Mumbai with intense rain spells across isolated areas with wind speed ranging between 30-35 kmph.

“Mumbai witnessed two distinct events of thunderstorms with lightning, associated with intense spells of rains. One during the evening 5 pm to 8 pm on Saturday and second on early morning between 3.30 am to 5 am on Sunday,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director-general, western region, India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The IMD said these thunderstorms were symptoms of southwest monsoon withdrawal and were common during this time of the year.

“The thundershowers were short-lived but were witnessed across the Konkan coast and isolated areas of interior Maharashtra. However, there are chances of very light to light rain through the week,” said Hosalikar.

Location-wise, rainfall over 15 hours (5.30 pm Saturday and 8.30 am Sunday) showed maximum rain in areas around Malad 106.6 mm, Dahisar 103 mm, Ram Mandir Goregaon at 94.5 mm, Mira Road 84.5 mm, Borivali 76.8 mm, Andheri 72.8 mm, Bhandup 69 mm and Powai 64 mm, all falling under heavy rain category.

Meanwhile, thundershowers brought cool weather over the city which had been over a degree Celsius above normal since the beginning of the month. The maximum temperature dropped to 29.5 degrees Celsius in the suburbs and 28.4 degrees Celsius in south Mumbai, both 3 degree Celsius below normal. The minimum temperature in the suburbs was 22.6 degrees Celsius while south Mumbai was 24 degrees Celsius, 2 degrees Celsius below normal.

The city and the suburbs could expect cloudy conditions with the possibility of light rain on Monday, the weather bureau said.