Rain brings down temperature in city

MUMBAI: Rain in the city on Wednesday led to a dip in heat, with the maximum daytime temperature at the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Santacruz observatory falling over two degrees as compared to the day prior – from 29.4°Celsius on Tuesday to 27°Celsius.

This followed what meteorologists at IMD described as “continuous moderate rainfall” across the wider Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). As per the IMD’S mesonet system, most monitoring locations (situated in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai) saw precipitation throughout the day, recording between 20mm and 40mm of rain in the eight hours ending at 5pm. Santacruz saw 37.5mm of rain, while Colaba saw 39.2mm during this period.

The rain is a result of a favourable synoptic situation over the region, with a low pressure zone in the Bay of Bengal strengthening an offshore monsoon trough that runs all the way till Kerala.

There is also an east-west ‘shear zone’ -- an area of opposing winds -- over Maharashtra, which is helping to dump moisture from westerly winds over the state, particularly in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions. But these spells of rain have been far less severe than those witnessed last month, and officials have clarified that there is no reason to anticipate flash floods.

The showers are expected to peter out by the weekend. IMD’S ‘yellow category’ storm warning for the city on Wednesday lapsed into a green category alert till August 22. Only scattered rain, with occasional gusty winds touching speeds of up to 20 knots, are expected in north coastal Maharashtra. Mumbai has so far received 2271.3mmm of rain since June 1, as opposed to the average seasonal rainfall of 2205mm. “Some showers will continue till the weekend,” said an official with the IMD’S regional meteorological centre in Mumbai.