At 15°C, Mumbai feels the chill; pollution level witnesses rise

On Monday, Santacruz had recorded a minimum temperature of 16 degrees Celsius, 0.7 degrees Celsius below normal, and it was 16.5 degrees Celsius on Sunday

The city woke up to cold winds for the third consecutive day on Tuesday, with minimum temperatures dipping to 15 degrees Celsius, 1.7 degrees below normal, in the suburbs. The minimum temperature in south Mumbai was slightly higher at 19.8 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature in south Mumbai was slightly higher at 19.8 degrees Celsius. (Pratham Gokhale/HT photo)

On Monday, Santacruz had recorded a minimum temperature of 16 degrees Celsius, 0.7 degrees Celsius below normal, and it was 16.5 degrees Celsius on Sunday.

The maximum temperatures, too, have continued to remain below 30 degrees Celsius across the city. “Winds are northerly to north-westerly for the past three days. Depending on the fall in temperature in the north India and influence of cold winds, the temperatures fall [in Mumbai],” said VK Rajeev, director, western region, India Meteorological Department (IMD). “These weather conditions will prevail for the next three to four days.”

Meanwhile, there was a spike in pollution levels on Tuesday as the air quality index (AQI) – pollution measuring indicator – was at 242, which falls under the ‘poor’ category for Mumbai. While AQI on Monday was 212, which also fell under the ‘poor’ category, the AQI on Sunday was in the ‘moderate’ category at 186. The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) estimated that Mumbai’s air quality would continue to be ‘poor’ on Wednesday, with an estimated AQI of 230.