Mumbai: If it felt noticeably chilly on Wednesday, when the mercury plummeted to 15.3° Celsius temperature, on Friday, it was a fraction of a degree cooler, at 14.8°, marking a new low for the city this season temperature-wise.
According to the Mumbai bureau of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), temperatures will continue to hover around 14°-15° Celsius for the next two days. The Santacruz observatory recorded a minimum temperature of 14.8° Celsius on Friday morning, making it the season's lowest so far.
"This was 2.7°Celsius below normal and the lowest the mercury has dropped this season, surpassing the earlier minimum of 15° Celsius recorded on December 29," an IMD official told The Free Press Journal.
The minimum temperature recorded in Colaba observatory was 17.5° Celsius. The maximum temperature recorded at Santacruz and Colaba on Friday morning was 29.9° Celsius and 28.
“Northerly winds have pushed down the mercury levels. There will be no large change in the temperature for the next 24 to 48 hours, but a gradual rise in temperature is expected in the coming days,” the official added.
On Wednesday, the city had recorded the lowest temperature for January 2021, at 15.3° Celsius. “Mumbai Santacruz recorded the lowest minimum temperature of this season on Friday morning from December 2020. Good chill in the air and a pleasant morning again, with the first time in this season, the Santacruz Met Observatory recorded below 15°C. No large change expected in the next 24 hrs. Thereafter gradual rise,” KS Hosalikar, deputy director-general, western region, IMD, tweeted on Friday morning.
Minimum temperatures have dropped in other parts of Maharashtra as well. The IMD has forecasted thunderstorms with lightning and light rainfall at isolated places over Wardha and Nagpur districts in Vidarbha. Meanwhile, the air quality index (AQI) continues to remain poor in Mumbai and the adjoining areas: In Mumbai, the air quality was 'very poor' on Friday, with an overall AQI of 300, according to the System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).
A spokesperson of SAFAR said: "Due to calm winds in Mumbai and around, polluted continental air coming into the region is not getting dispersed. This condition is leading to poor AQI in Mumbai. Even with the change in wind conditions, the decrease of ventilation will add to local emission with continental pollution, keeping the AQI from poor to very poor for Mumbai in the next two days.”
With AQIs of over 300, places like Malad (332), Andheri (318), Mazgaon (314) and Chembur (309) remained under the 'very poor' category. The Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), with an AQI of 286, followed by Colaba (283), Borivli (273) slipped to 'poor', while Bhandup and Worli recorded moderate air quality on Friday with AQIs of 173 and 145 respectively. SAFAR categorises AQI levels for PM2.5 in the 0-50 range as good; 51-100 as satisfactory; 101-200 as moderate; 201-300 as poor; 301-400 as very poor and above 400 as severe.
