Mumbai records second-lowest August rainfall in a decade

After receiving excess rain in the two monsoon months of June and July, Mumbai received only 40% of its average rain for August — the second lowest for the month in 10 years.

All through August, the weather bureau recorded just at 235.2mm of rainfall in the city. The lowest recorded monthly total for the decade was in 2015, at 153.9mm; the highest was in 1958 at 1,254mm. The average August rainfall in Mumbai is 585.2mm.

The meteorological office said the poor rainfall could be attributed to the absence of conducive weather systems along the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

“While the central parts of the state, and even the south Konkan region, recorded good rain, Mumbai and its surrounding areas saw lower rainfall activity owing to weak monsoon conditions,” said Ajay Kumar, scientist, India Meteorological Department (IMD), Mumbai. Kumar said the weather bureau foresees a similar pattern through September too.

The low rain in August is in contrast to July, when the city got 1,137mm of rain — the second highest monthly rainfall since 2012. The average rainfall for July is 840.7mm. Over the past seven years, the highest July rainfall was recorded in 2014 at 1,468.5mm. From the beginning of the monsoon season till August 31, Maharashtra recorded 861mm rain against the normal for the period, which is 827.3mm — a 4% excess.

Meanwhile, with negligible rain on Friday, day temperatures at south Mumbai and the suburbs was a degree Celsius above the normal mark. While Colaba recorded 31 degrees Celsius, 1.3 degrees above normal, maximum temperatures at Santacruz was 30.6 degrees Celsius, 0.9 degrees above normal. The night temperature was close to the normal mark. The weather bureau has predicted one or two spells of light rain over the weekend, but an increase in day temperature to 32 degrees Celsius.

First Published: Sep 01, 2018 08:21 IST