AT 37.4°C, TEMP HITS 10-YEAR HIGH FOR A MAY DAY

MUMBAI: With the maximum daytime temperature on Saturday settling at 37.4 degrees Celsius — up from 34.5 degrees Celsius the day prior — Mumbai recorded its hottest day in May in a decade. The city had earlier recorded a temperature of 36.1 degrees Celsius on May 3, which was the highest reading since 2016 until Saturday.

“As a result of weather activity due to Cyclone Tauktae, there is a dense cloud cover which has formed over the Konkan coast, and which is acting as a heat trap. Hot air is unable to rise beyond a certain height and this pushes up the atmospheric temperature closer to the earth’s surface. This phenomenon should reduce toward Sunday evening once it rains,” said a meteorologist with India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) regional forecasting centre in Mumbai.

As per IMD’s Santacruz weather station, the maximum daytime temperature on Sunday may drop to as little as 31 degrees Celsius. Cloudy skies with moderate to heavy rain at isolated locations in Mumbai, Thane and Palghar are expected to prevail during this period. At 7pm on Saturday, IMD’s regional forecasting Centre in Mumbai reported that Cyclone Tauktae was located about 250kms off the coast of Goa. It is expected to cross Mumbai’s latitude late Sunday, at a distance of 300 to 350kms from the coast.