Winter showers in Mumbai; weather likely to remain same till Saturday: IMD

Neighbouring areas such as Thane, Dombivali and Badlapur also saw isolated spells of rain on Thursday evening and Friday morning

Winter showers were reported across Mumbai and neighbouring areas late Thursday evening and early Friday morning. Cloudy weather and light rainfall are likely to continue till Saturday, said the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).

. IMD attributed the unseasonal rain to a trough along the coast of Maharashtra and Karnataka. (HT file photo)

Isolated winter showers were reported in Kurla, Mahalaxmi, Borivali, Kandivali and Bandra. Neighbouring areas such as Thane, Dombivali and Badlapur also saw isolated spells of rain on Thursday evening and Friday morning. IMD attributed the unseasonal rain to a trough along the coast of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

“Mumbai woke up to cloudy skies and rainfall in some parts. Under the influence of a trough in low level easterlies from Karnataka coast to Maharashtra coast in lower tropospheric levels, isolated to scattered rainfall with moderate thunderstorm and lightning at isolated places is very likely over Maharashtra during the next two days,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director general of western region, IMD.

Meanwhile, minimum temperatures were slightly higher than that recorded on Thursday. Santacruz recorded a minimum temperature of 23.4 degrees Celsius, which was 5.9 degrees above normal and Colaba recorded 23 degrees Celsius, which was 3.4 degrees above normal.

The air quality in Mumbai remained in the very poor category on Friday morning with air quality index (AQI) -- a pollutant measuring indicator -- of 313. The AQI was calculated by the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) as the average of indices recorded at ten locations in the city and suburbs. SAFAR categorises AQI levels for PM2.5 in the 0-50 range as good; 51-100 as satisfactory; 101-200 as moderate; 201-300 as poor; 301-400 as very poor and above 400 as severe.

Navi Mumbai reported the worst air of the 10 stations with an AQI of 329, which was closely followed by Borivali with an AQI of 326.

“As winter conditions persist, a low dispersion of pollutant particles in the air is seen. This is why the air quality is in the very poor category,” said a spokesperson from SAFAR.