Monsoon bids adieu to Mumbai

The rain has formally bid adieu to the city. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the monsoon withdrew from Mumbai on Monday morning.

The rain has formally bid adieu to the city. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the monsoon withdrew from Mumbai on Monday morning.

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“Satellite images showed no moisture in the atmosphere. The relative humidity has decreased to about 38% from 80% last week,” said Ajay Kumar, duty officer, western region, IMD. “We have also been getting dry winds from the north east of Mumbai for some days. All these parameters indicate that the monsoon has withdrawn.”

Withdrawal of monsoon is declared only after five clear and hot days without rain over a large area.

There has been no rainfall in the last 24 hours and weathermen have forecast only partly cloudy skies. Even though the monsoon starts receding in the second week of October, Sharma said the withdrawal is not as definite as the June 11 onset.

Though monsoon had withdrawn till Dahanu on October 11, the city witnessed heavy spells of rain accompanied by thunder and lightning. Since October 1, while south Mumbai received 65.6mm rain, it rained 120.1mm in the suburbs.

On Monday, maximum temperatures were three degrees above normal at 36 degree Celsius for both Colaba and Santacruz. However, a significant drop in humidity levels made the day more tolerable than previous weeks.

Humidity in south Mumbai was 38%, which is 34% below normal, while suburbs witnessed 39% humidity, which is 23% below normal for this time of the year. The minimum temperatures were normal at 22 degree Celsius at both Colaba and Santacruz.