Mumbai on orange alert: Very heavy rains likely today, tomorrow, says IMD

The city is likely to see heavy to very heavy rainfall today, predicted the India Meteorological Department (IMD) while issuing an orange alert. Downpour might pummel Mumbai till Wednesday due to favourable monsoon system, added the forecast.

On Monday, the IMD declared Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Palghar and ghat areas of Pune, Satara, Nashik and Kolhapur as vulnerable regions for the next two days.

According to Mumbai IMD head Jayanta Sarkar, “Konkan and Madhya Maharashtra has been receiving widespread rainfall along with heavy to very heavy rainfall. There is a possibility of heavy to extremely heavy rainfall over Mumbai as well on Tuesday or Wednesday at isolated places. Citizens are requested to take precautions while venturing outside.”

The reason for the warning given by the IMD is that there is an east-west sheer zone, due to which a depression has been formed that will create favourable monsoon conditions for extremely heavy rainfall. Another reason for the rains is also a trough running from the Konkan coast.

On Monday, the minimum temperature recorded in Santacruz was 24.2 degrees Celsius and the maximum was 31.3 degrees Celsius, with 95 per cent relative humidity. Colaba experienced a minimum temperature of 24.4 degrees Celsius and a maximum of 30.6 degrees Celsius, with 95 per cent relative humidity.

Meanwhile, the city also breathed good air on Monday. According to the data from the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), Mumbai recorded a ‘good’ Air Quality Index (AQI) of 13, while other cities like Delhi, Pune, and Ahmedabad recorded an AQI of 30, 14, and 32, respectively.