Mumbaikars likely to enjoy chilly nights till weekend

Mumbaikars are set to enjoy chilled climate for the next three days. The weather officials have attributed this to the cloudy weather is prevailing in Gujarat causing the temperatures to drop in the city. The officials from Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has also predicted a marginal drop in night temperature.

IMD officials said slow winds from Gujarat has caused dust particles to remain suspended for a long time due to which air quality is poor in some part of the city.

“In the coming days, there may be an increase in day temperatures and a decrease in night temperatures. On Thursday morning the minimum temperatures recorded by the IMD Colaba observatory was 21.5 degree Celsius as compared to 23 degree Celsius recorded a day ago. While in case of IMD Santacruz it was 18.2 degree Celsius as compared to 21.5 degree Celsius recorded on Wednesday,” said Ajay Kumar, Director of IMD.

He added that the current temperature of the city is not very high due to which there will be not very much change in temperature. “The cloud density is expected to get thinner and the temperature may drop by a couple of degrees from tomorrow. It may bring some relief to the people in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra,” said Ajay.

“There was a deep trough in the westerlies which has become less marked and is seen as an upper air cyclonic circulation. The wind pattern has also changed from easterlies to westerlies. The pollution is also expected to move away because of this,” said Ajay.

The suspension of dust particles in the air over the city and suburbs, the heavy traffic on roads and construction work at several places were responsible for the poor air quality and the haze.

The combined effect of the cloud density and the dust particles were causing low visibility, he said. “A lot of vehicular movement and the ongoing infrastructure work in Mumbai are contributing to the poor air quality,” said K S Hosalikar, Deputy Director General (Western Region), IMD.