Mumbai gets 50% rainfall for June in first fortnight, showers expected till Thursday

MUMBAI: In the first fortnight of June itself, the India Meteorological Department (IMD)'s Santacruz observatory recorded 50% of the required rainfall for the month. This, despite the fact that the onset of monsoon was officially declared only on June 14.
Private weather forecasting agency Skymet has said Mumbai can expect heavy to very heavy rain till Thursday.
While the required rain for the month is 493.1mm, by 5:30pm on June 15, the IMD's Santacruz observatory had recorded 245.5mm.
On Monday afternoon, the BMC's automatic weather station in Andheri West and East recorded 60mm and 57mm rain, respectively. This led to waterlogging in Andheri subway and traffic had to be suspended for a while.
Weathermen said the significant downpour in the city was due to the after-effects of Cyclone Nisaraga and a strong monsoon current.
In the 24 hours between June 14 and 15 (8.30am-8.30 am) when monsoon's onset was announced, though, the IMD's Colaba observatory recorded 27.6mm of rainfall and Santacruz just traces.
"It was a soft onset. The coming week's models indicate enhancement of rainfall over the west coast," said K S Hosalikar, deputy director-general (western region), IMD.
Parts of the city witnessed showers on Monday, though they were not continuous. The IMD has issued an orange alert for Tuesday and Wednesday for parts of Thane and Palghar. An orange alert indicates heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places.
Rainfall is yet to pick up momentum over the seven lakes that supply water to the city. As on Monday, the lakes had 1.8 lakh million litres or 12.4% of the total required water stocks. This is higher than 97 thousand million litres (6.70 %) last year on the same date though.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra's Chandrapur with 63mm rainfall and Washim 60mm were among the wettest places in India on Monday.