Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

Monsoon to hit Mumbai today

- Badri Chatterjee letters@hindustant­imes.com

southwest monsoon touched down on Maharashtr­a on Friday morning and will reach Mumbai on Saturday, the India Meteorolog­ical Department (IMD) said, while warning of heavy rainfall in the city.

“We have declared monsoon onset over the state at 11.30am on Friday. The onset line covers parts of south Konkan, southcentr­al Maharashtr­a and isolated areas of Marathwada and southern Vidarbha,” said Ajay Kumar, scientist, IMD, Mumbai. “The monsoon line is now over central Arabian sea, and is passing over Ratnagiri, Solapur, Nanded, Adilabad, Kalingpata­nam and so on.”

The monsoon is expected make its landing in Mumbai on Saturday. IMD has issued ‘very heavy’ to ‘extremely heavy’ rainfall warnings for the city for this weekend. “We expect rainfall activity over Mumbai to increase substantia­lly over the next 24 hours, from Friday, allowing the

MUMBAI:The

setting in of the southwest monsoon,” Kumar said.

As per the weather department’s classifica­tion, 15.6mm to 64.4mm of rain is considered ‘moderate’, 64.5mm to 115.5mm is ‘heavy’, 115.6mm to 204.4mm is ‘very heavy’ and more than 204.5mm is ‘extreme’.

The city woke up to dry conditions on Friday as against the moderate thundersho­wers seen on Thursday. Rainfall in the suburbs between 8.30am Thursday and 8.30am Friday was 41mm, while in south Mumbai it was 30.2mm.

The IMD has issued an advisory for many areas along the Konkan coast, including Mumbai, that people should avoid outdoor activities from June 9 to 11. The warning still stands, Kumar said.

 ?? PTI PHOTO ?? An aircraft flies over as commuters drive through a waterlogge­d road after premonsoon shower in Mumbai.
PTI PHOTO An aircraft flies over as commuters drive through a waterlogge­d road after premonsoon shower in Mumbai.

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