Cyclone Tauktae: Day after heaviest May downpour, Mumbai receives sparse rain; green alert for today

MUMBAI: A day after gusty winds and extremely heavy rain lashed the city and its suburbs due to Cyclone Tauktae —the highest ever for the month of May—the weather cleared up.
Both Colaba and Santacruz observatories did not report any rain till 8.30pm on Tuesday, though skies remained overcast and strong winds persisted. Some parts of the cityand Thane received light rain later in the evening. The IMD has issued a green alert for Wednesday, indicating very light rain and thundershowers for Mumbai and Thane.

“Cyclonic storm Tauktae over Saurashtra, about 60km southwest of Surendranagar and 75km northeast of Amreli. It would move north-northeastwards and weaken gradually into a deep depression,” said IMD on Tuesday afternoon.
In Mumbai, by Tuesday, rain had brought down maximum and minimum temperatures considerably. The IMD’s Santacruz observatory recorded maximum temperature of 31.6 degree Celsius, which was 1.9 degree below normal. This was also the lowest maximum temperature the city had recorded for the month in the past nine years. In 2011, the city had reported its lowest maximum for the month at 31.3 degree on May 17.
Minimum temperature also stayed on the lower side on Tuesday with the IMD Santacruz recording 23.6 degrees, which was 3.6 degree below normal. This was also the second lowest minimum temperature in the past 10 years.
The extremely severe cyclonic storm Tauktae, meanwhile, saw the city log some massive rain figures. Though the downpour recorded between May 17-18 falls in the extremely heavy rain or red alert category, till Sunday, the IMD had given an orange alert for May 17, only signifying heavy to very heavy rain. Later, the IMD went on to upgrade its own warning to a red alert. Experts said the rapid intensification of the cyclone could have been the reason.
In the 24 hours between May 17 and 18 (8.30am-8.30am), the IMD’s Colaba observatory recorded 207.6mm rain and the Santacruz observatory 230.3mm. Both these fall in the extremely heavy rain category as per IMD classification. Adjoining areas such as Dahanu also recorded 283mm rain in the same period.
For Mumbai, it was clearly the wettest May day as the previous high for the month was 190.8mm on May 19, 2000.
Areas such as Kandivli (320mm), Borivli West (315 mm), Dahisar (292mm), Goregaon (281mm) Chincholi and Malad (281mm) reported massive rain. At least three areas in Mumbai—Colaba, Malad and Reay Road—reported over 100kmph of winds, two of which were closer to the sea.