Mumbai: The week began on a damp note for Mumbai, literally, with the weather observatories of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) at Santacruz and Colaba recording 60 mm of rain during the 24 hours from 8.30 a.m. on Sunday.
Weathermen at the private forecaster, Skymet Weather, said the heavy rain could be attributed to the presence of an off-shore trough running along the west coast. They said that there was also a cyclonic circulation spread over Madhya Maharashtra adjoining Gujarat contributing to the rainfall.
According to Skymet Weather, moderate to heavy rain is expected to lash the city for the next 24 hours. “It will not be surprising if the city records three digit rain,” a release said.
Scientists at IMD’s regional observatory at Colaba said Mumbai has recorded 521 mm of rain this month, which is just 8.7 mm short of its expected monthly figures.
From 8.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. on Monday, the Colaba observatory recorded 35.8 mm of rain and the Santacruz observatory 28.6 mm.
IMD data revealed that from June 1, the Santacruz observatory has recorded 1914.1 mm of rain (a departure of + 50 mm during the season last year) and Colaba has received 1462.8 mm (a departure of -258 mm during the season last year).
K.S. Hosalikar, deputy director-general (western region), IMD, said currently, there are two weather systems which are active and bringing significant rain. “There is an upper air circulation over south Rajasthan and neighbourhood owing to which there is cloudiness over the west coast. There is also a low pressure over south east of Odisha and its neighbourhood. Both these systems are acting together. Further enhancement in the rainfall activity is expected in the next 48-72 hours,” said Mr. Hosalikar. In the next 48 hours, the IMD has warned that intermittent showers with heavy to very heavy rain at a few places and extremely heavy at one or two places are likely in the city and suburbs.