Thaneites get some relief from the heat as temp drops a few notches

THANE: The sudden showers have brought some relief for residents who have been sweating it out all these days in the sweltering heat. The temperature has dropped by around two degrees Celsius.

While the city witnessed around 15.5 mm rainfall, the minimum temperature in the city dropped to 26 degrees Celsius on Wednesday and 25.1 degrees Celsius on Friday. The maximum temperature dropped from 39.1 degrees Celsius on Wednesday to 37.2 on Saturday.

"The temperature in the city has dropped by a few notches. The cool winds have given us a huge relief as we have been suffering from sweltering heat over the past few weeks. We have also been witnessing a lot of lightning and thunder. I hope these scattered rains continue for as long as possible to balance the October heat," said Aryan Shrivastav, a resident of Devdayanagar area.

Weathermen assert that this fluctuating climate is one of the factors of the withdrawing monsoon.

"As the monsoon is retreating, the wind direction is also changing. Instead of the south westerly winds which came from the Arabian Sea and helped balance the heat, Mumbai and Thane have been receiving northerly or inland winds coming down from Gujarat and west MP. The scattered rains are the result of evaporation of climatic moisture due to the heat seen these days during the monsoon withdrawal," said Mahesh Palawat, chief meteorologist at skymetweather.com.

"The average mercury levels will continue to hover around 28 to 33 degrees Celsius through the weekend and on some days in the coming week, after which the temperatures will shoot up again," he added.