Mumbai: Mumbaikars will have to deal with rising temperatures and the difficulty in coping with humidity, which will continue for another few days. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has said citizens will have to wait for a few more days as the rains are yet to arrive in Kerala, due to El Nino. Kerala is expected to get showers this weekend.
According to IMD, the southwest monsoon usually hits Mumbai between June 8 and June 10, a week after the first rains in Kerala. However this year, the rains are delayed. Usually monsoon arrives in Mumbai on June 9. But this time they are expected not before June 17. However, there will be few pre-monsoon drizzles next week, said an IMD official. The delay in the onset is being attributed to a lingering El Nino, a weather phenomenon characterised by warm oceanic temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. This usually leads to poor rainfall and more heat waves in the Indian subcontinent.
“Our weather models indicate strong weather systems that are expected to develop by the first week of June and pave the way for regular monsoon. This year they have remained absent. As a result, the rains could be delayed by at least a week,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice-president, Skymet. Palawat said the onset in Kerala too is likely to be delayed owing to a 60 per cent chance of El Nino influencing the monsoon between June and August. Worse still, the intensity of the rains in Mumbai too could be impacted due to El Nino. There is a slight positive Indian Ocean Dipole indicator, a phenomenon in the Indian Ocean that cools sea surface temperature.
